iiWiipiiiili|iiS;-\« 






SENATE No. 128. 



€ommon\x^taUf^ of ^utsumjuntitu. 



The Joint Special Committee, to which was referred the reports 
of the majority, and the minority, of the commissioners ap- 
pointed under a resolve of the general court, passed March 
18, 1844, with their accompanying documents; also, the pe- 
titions of Tristram Burgess and others ; of C. B. Farnsworth 
and others; of Frederic Brownell and others; of Viall Medbury 
and others ; of Richard Borden and others; of Abner L. Wes- 
gate and others ; of Mason Barney and others ; and of Beriah 
Brown and others : the memorials of the agents of West- 
port ; of the inhabitants of the town of Fall River, and of 
Joseph D. Brown : the remonstrances of the town of Seekonk ; 
of the inhabitants o f Attleborough ; and of Noah Claflin and 
others, — and the protest of the town of Pawtucket, — have at- 
tended to the duty assigned, and now submit the following 

REPORT: 

In 1620, James I., king of England, by a charter, usually 
called the Great Charter of Plymouth, created a corporation, 
consisting of forty persons, with perpetual succession, to be 
called and known by the name of the Council, established at 
Plymouth, in the county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, or- 



2 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

deving and governing New England, in America ; and therein 
named the duke of Lennox, and his associates, to be of the 
first council ; and granted to said council all that circuit, conti- 
nent, precincts and limits in America, lying and being in breadth 
from forty degrees of northerly latitude from the equinoctial 
line, to forty-eight degrees of the said northerly latitude, and in 
ength by all the breadth aforesaid throughout the main 
land from sea to sea. with all the seas, rivers, islands, creeks, 
inlets, ports and havens, within the degrees, precincts and limits, 
of the said latitude and longitude, which shall be the limits of 
the colony to be called by the name of New England, in Amer- 
ica. The corporation had power to appoint such governors, 
officers, and ministers, as well to attend to the business of the 
said corporation in England, as for the government of the said 
colony and plantation ; and to make, ordain, and establish, all 
manner of orders, laws, directions, instructions, forms and cer- 
emonies of government and magistracy fit and necessary for 
and concerning the government of the said colony and planta- 
tion, — so, always, as the same be not contrary to the laws and 
statutes of the realm of England ; limited only by their discre- 
tion as to what would be " fittest for the good of the adventurers 
and habitants " in said territory. 

" The authority to exercise martial law, with full powers of 
government, were also granted, according to such laws, orders, 
ordinances, directions, and instructions, as by the said council 
might be established ; and in defect thereof, in cases of necessity, 
according to the good discretions of the said governors and 
officers respectively, as well in cases capital and criminal, as 
civil both marine and others — so, always, as the statutes, ordi- 
nances, and proceedings, as near as conveniently, may be agree- 
able to the laws, statutes, government and policy of the realm of 
England." 

The land was granted " in free and common soccage and not 
in capite nor by knight-service, and upon a condition that the 
same were not actually possessed or inhabited by any other 
Christian prince or state, nor within the bounds of the southern 
colony heretofore granted.' 

The authority to maintain defensive war was also granted 



^ 



1848.J SENATE— No. 128. 3 

to the governors, officers and ministers, appointed to have 
power and authority of government and command over the said 
colony. 

And the charter provided that, in " all questions and doubts 
that might arise upon any difficulty of construction or interpret- 
ation of any thing contained therein, the same should be taken 
and interpreted, in the most ample and beneficial manner, for 
the said council and their successors, and every member thereof." 

This charter was dated November 3, 1620. (Plymouth Colo- 
ny Laws — 1.) 

Previous to the granting of this charter, viz., on the sixth 
September, 1G20, the IMayflower, with Carver and his associates, 
sailed from Plymouth, England, for America. On the ninth 
day of November following, they made land on the south of 
Cape Cod. On the tenth, they formed their charter and com- 
pact for self-government in the following words : — 

" In the name of God, — amen. We, whose names are under- 
written, '"the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King 
James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ire- 
land, king, defender of the faith, 6cc., having undertaken, for the 
glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith, and hon- 
or of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony 
in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemn- 
ly and mutually, in the presence of God and of one another, 
covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body-poli- 
tic for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of 
the ends aforesaid ; and, by virtue hereof, to enact, constitute, 
and frame such just and equal laws and ordinances, acts, con- 
stitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought 
most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony, 
unto which we promise all due subjection and obedience. In 
witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names, at 
Cape Cod, the eleventh day of November in the year of the 
reign of our sovereign lord. King James, of England, France, 
and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland, the fifty-fourth, 
anno domini 1620." This compact was signed, on board the 
Mayflower, by forty-one persons. The whole number of souls 
were one hundred and one. (Plymouth Colony Laws — 19.) 



4 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

This comprehensive instrument, containing in itself the great 
principles of democratic institutions, discloses the object of the 
proposed settlement, creates the signers a corporation and body- 
politic, and grants to the majority the power to make all just 
and equal laws for the general good of the colony. The ad- 
venturers did, therefore, assume all the powers of self-govern- 
ment upon their landing at Plymouth, December, 1620. The 
first political act was the election of John Carver, governor, 
who was the sole executive officer. The legislative and judi- 
cial power was in the whole body of freemen. Before them, 
trials for ofiences were holden, and punishments were inflicted by 
their order. The governor remitted punishments. In Decem- 
ber, 1623, the trial by jury was established. In their intercourse 
with the Indian nations, they assumed the power of making 
war and peace, and of receiving (in behalf of the king,) the al- 
legiance of the natives. (Baylies' History of Plymouth Colony 
—154-7.) 

The settlers continued, under their compact, to govern their 
little community, without any right to the soil, excepting 
what was derived from occupancy, and the free consent of the 
Indians, until the charter of the Colony of New Plymouth was 
granted by the Council at Plymouth, in the county of Devon, 
England, to William Bradford and his associates, the 13th of 
January, A. D. 1629, conveying to said Bradford, his heirs, as- 
sociates, and asigns, "all that part of New England, in Ameri- 
ca aforesaid, and tract and tracts of land, that lie within or 
between a certain rivolet or rundlett, then commonly called 
Coahassett, alias Conahassett, towards the north, and the river 
commonly called Narragansett towards the south, and the 
great Western Ocean towards the east, and between and within 
a straight line, directly extending up into the mainland towards 
the west, from the mouth of the said river, called Narragansett 
River, to the utmost limits and bounds of a coimtry,^r place, in 
New England, called Pokenacutt, alias Sowamsett, westward, 
and another like straight line, extending itself directly from the 
mouth of the said river, called Coahassett, alias Conahassett, 
towards the west, so far up into the mainlands westward, as 
the utmost limits of the said place or country, commonly called 



1818.] SENATE— No. 128. 5 

Pokenacutt, alias Sowamasett, do extend, together with one half 
of the said river, called Narragansetts, and the said rivolet or 
rundlett called Coahassett, alias Conahassett, and all lands, 
rivers, waters, havens, creeks, ports, fishings, fowlings, &c., 
&c. ; together with all the prerogatives, rights, royalties, juris- 
dictions, privileges, franchises, liberties, and immunities, &:c., 
&c., in as free, large, ample, and beneficial manner, to all in- 
tents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever, as the said coun- 
cil, by virtue of His Majesty's letters patent, may or can grant. 
Also, it shall be lawful and free for the said William Bradford, 
his associates, his heirs and assigns, at all times, hereafter, to 
incorporate, by some usual or fit name and title, him or them- 
selves, or the people there inhabiting under him or them; with 
liberty, to them and their successors, from time to time, to 
frame and make orders, ordinances, and constitutions, as well 
for the better government of their affairs here, and the receiving 
or admitting any to his or their society, as, also, for the better 
government of his or their people and affairs in New England; 
and the same to put in execution by such officers and ministers 
as he and they shall authorize and depute: jv^ovided, that the 
said laws and orders be not repugnant to the laws of England, 
or the frame of government, by the said president and council 
hereafter to be established." (Plymouth Colony Laws, 21- 
25.) 

Previous to 1640, the colonists had established and put in 
operation their government, by providing for the election of 
the necessary officers both civil and military, for the punish- 
ment of crimes, the settlement of estates, the incorporation of 
towns, for the regulation of trials in civil cases, and the laying 
of taxes. 

At a public court in Plymouth, March 2, 1840, William 
Bradford surrendered this patent into the hands of the whole 
court, consisting of the freemen of the corporation. (Baylies' 
Plymouth Colony, 308.) 

No record of the confirmation of this charter by the crown is 
known to exist. The colonists, however, continued to exercise 
all the powers of government, and claimed the absolute property 
in all the lands within the patent, exercising jurisdiction and 



6 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

dominion over them, subject only to the right of the natives. 
They were recognized as a separate (and, so far as her sister 
colonies were concerned) an independent colony. She entered 
into the Confederation in 1643, with the colonies of Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven. The kings of Eng- 
land, also, from time to time, acknowledged the existence of the 
colony of New Plymouth, and treated her as a government, and 
gave the same respect to her proceedings as was yielded to the 
other colonies. 

In 1635, June 7th, the council of Plymouth, in the county of 
Devon, England, surrendered their grant, under the New Eng- 
land patent, to the crown, but it was never contended that the 
surrender, in any way, abridged the rights and privileges of the 
Plymouth Colony. Indeed, the history of the colony, in its 
external as well as internal concerns, shows the contrary ; and 
the acts of the crown plainly indicate that all their just rights 
were unaffected by such surrender. (P. C. Laws, 209.) 

Under the charter of 1629, Plymouth Colony claimed to hold, 
as her southern boundary, one half of the waters dividing her from 
the Narragansett country, and which was described in her charter 
as the Narragansett River. Her possession and jurisdiction 
were extended to the river and waters, — as will appear by her 
history, — until the judgment of the commissioners of 1741, 
hereinafter stated. The settlement of Seekonk was early made. 
The general court, in 1641, granted liberty to the inhabitants of 
Seekonk to take up a tract of land eight miles square, and, the 
Indian title being extinguished, Rehoboth was incorporated in 
1645, comprehending, — with what is called the North Purchase, 
— the present towns of Rehoboth, Seekonk, Attleborough, and 
Pawtuckett, and covering the territory lying between Central 
Falls and Bullock's Neck, on the east of the rivers Pawtuckett 
and Seekonk. 

In 1629, Roger Williams went from Boston to Salem ; and, 
differing with his associates and the patentees of Massachu- 
setts, he left Salem in 1635, and located himself at Seekonk, 
where he received a letter from Governor Winthrop, of Plym- 
outh, informing him that he was within that colony, and 
that, by going across the river, he would be without their 



1S48.] SENATE— No. 128. 7 

limits. Whereupon, Mr. Williams settled on llie south-west- 
erly side of the river, at what is now Providence. In 1638, 
Mr. John Clarke came from England to Boston, for a settle- 
ment, and, with that view, consulted with Roger Williams, 
who recommended Sowams, (now Swanzey,) as a favorable 
place. Mr. Clarke went to Plymouth, to ascertain if Sowams 
was within their patent, and, being informed that it was, he re- 
moved to Rhode Island. 

In 1643, Rhode Island obtained a charter of government from 
Robert, Earl of Warwick, and others, incorporating the inhabit- 
ants of Providence, Portsmouth and Newport; and the tract of 
land embraced is described as follows: " a tract of land in the 
continent of America, bordering northward and north-east on 
the patent of Massachusetts, east and south-east on Plymouth 
jjatent, south on the ocean, and on the west and north-west 
by the Indians called Nahiggannicks alias Narraganseits ; the 
whole tract extending about twenty-five English miles unto the 
Pequod river and country." This charter is understood to con- 
vey jurisdiction merely. (3 R. I. Hist. Coll., 299.) 

In 1663, Rhode Island obtained a charter from Charles II., 
which gives the following boundaries to the territory conveyed 
and confirmed by the charter, to wit: -'All that part of our 
dominions in New England, in America, containing the Na- 
hantic and Nanhyganset, alias Narraganset Bay, and countries 
and parts adjacent, bounded on the west or westerly by the 
Pawcutuck, alias Pawcawtuk River, and so along the said river, 
as the greater or middle stream thereof stretches or lies up into 
the north country, northward unto the head thereof, and from 
thence by a straight line due north, until it meet with the south 
hne of the Massachusetts Colon)', and on the north or northerly, 
by the aforesaid south or southerly line of the Massachusetts 
Colony, or Plantation, and extending towards the east or east- 
wardly three English miles, to the east and north-east of 
the most eastern and north-eastern parts of the aforesaid 
Narraganzett Bay, as the said bay lieth and extendeth itself 
from the ocean on the south, or southwardly, imto the mouth of 
the river which runneth towards the town of Providence; and 
from thence, along the eastwardly side or bank of the said 



8 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

river, (higher called Seacmik,) np to the falls called Patucket 
Falls, being the most westwardly line of Plymouth Colony, 
and bounded on the south by the ocean," &c., &c. 

Notwithstanding the apparent conflict of these boundaries 
with those of the Plymouth patent, the government of Plym- 
outh still continued to assert and maintain her jurisdiction, to 
the same extent and limits, after the Rhode Island charter was 
granted, as before. The general court held at Plymouth, in 
1664, voted that an address should be made for the further con- 
firmation of their patent, and passed the following order and 
resolve : " The body of the freemen of this corporation, being 
assembled in court, have ordered, and do hereby declare their 
resolutions to maintain their just rights, which, for many years, 
they have been possessed of, in all those lands from Cape Cod 
to Saconett Point, with Pochassett, Causumsett, and the lands 
about Rehoboth, to Patucket River, and as far up said river till 
■we meet the Massachusetts line, which crosses the said river, 
and thence to Coahassett as the line runs." Another vote, of 
the same session, is passed to meet the case of private trespass. 
(P. C. Laws, 145.) 

In 1664, a commission was formed by the crown, for settling 
disputes between the colonies, consisting of Messrs. Robert Carr, 
George Cartright and Samuel Maverick, who settled the bound- 
ary between Plymouth and Rhode Island, in conformity with 
the Plymouth charter, and made report of their doings to the 
king, who confirmed the same, and, in his letter to the Massa- 
chusetts Colony, in 1666, says, "And for the better prevention 
of all diflerences and disputes upon the bounds and limits of 
the several colonies, his majesty's pleasure is, that all the deter- 
minations made by his majesty's said commissioners, with ref- 
erence to the said bounds and limits, may still continue to be 
observed till, upon a full representation of all pretences, his 
majesty shall make his own final determination, and particularly 
the present temporary bounds set by commissioners between the 
colonies of New Plymouth and Rhode Island, until his majesty 
shall find cause to alter the same; and his majesty expects that 
full obedience be given to this signification of his pleasure, in 
all particulars." (Hutchinson's History of Mass., App. 467.) 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 9 

This decision of the commissioners, and confirmation by the 
crown, made at the time the question first arose, was held to be 
a judicial construction of the charters. Roger Williams, in a 
letter to Major Mason, dated June 22, 1670, (Knowles's Life of 
Roger Williams, App. 393,) says, " The king's majesty sending 
his commissioners, (among other of his royal purposes,) to rec- 
oncile the diflferences of, and to settle the bounds between, the 
colonies, yourself know how the king himself, therefore, hath 
given a decision to this controversy. Accordingly, the king's 
majesty's aforesaid commissioners at Rhode Island, (when, as 
a commissioner for this colony, I transacted with them, as did 
also commissioners from Plymouth,) they composed a contro- 
versy between Plymouth and us, and settled the bounds be- 
tween us, in which we rest." Rhode Island complained of 
this settlement in 1666. It remained however unaltered by the 
crown, during the reigns of five sovereigns, and Plymouth Col- 
ony continued her jurisdiction over the territory. 

In March, 1667, the general court incorporated the town of 
New Swanzey, which included the present towns of Swanzey 
and Somerset, in Massachusetts, and Barrington, and a part of 
Warren, which, under the award of 1741, were transferred to 
Rhode Island. In 1681, the town of Bristol was incorporated, 
and in 1682, Little Compton, the Indian Seaconnet, both of 
which, with Tiverton, were also transferred to Rhode Island 
by the award of 1741. 

In 1685, Bristol, Taunton, Rehoboth, Dartmouth, Swansey, 
Freetown, Sowammet, Pocassett, Punkatest, (now Tiverton,) 
and all such places, towns, and villages as might be settled on 
said lands, were declared a county. The town of Bristol was 
made the shire town, and the county called the county of Bris- 
tol. (P. C. Laws, 295.) 

By the charter of William and Mary, 1691, the colony of 
the Massachusetts Bay, the colony of New Plymouth, the 
province of Maine, the territory called Acadia or Nova Scotia, 
&c. &c., were incorporated " into one real province, by the 
name of our province of the Massachusetts Bay in New Eng- 
land ;" and authority was given to "make or pass any grant 
of land lying within the several colonies united, as hereto- 

2 



10 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

fore they might have done, by virtue of any former charter 
or leiters-}KitentP This charter did not affect the boundaries 
of New Plymouth. Its operation was simply to annex the 
colony to Massachusetts, with her territorial limits fixed and 
defined by her charter of 1629, and the judgment of the com- 
mission of 1664 confirmed by Charles II. And the provincial 
government of Massachusetts claimed and exercised jurisdic- 
tion over the whole territory, in as full and ample a manner as 
it had been by the government of Plymouth Colony. Punkatest 
was incorporated by the name of Tiverton in 1694, and in 
1713 Massachusetts and Rhode Island, at their joint and equal 
expense, erected a bridge over Pawtucket River. The towns 
of Bristol, Little Compton, Swanzey, Shewamit, Tiverton, and 
Barrington, were assessed, by the province of Massachusetts 
Bay, (1725,) their respective proportions of £20,000, and con- 
tinued, to 1746, to enjoy the protection and share the burdens 
of the province, as well as to participate in its government. 

It thus appears that, by contemporaneous exposition and 
claim, aided by judicial construction, the charter of Plymouth 
Colony was held to support the jurisdiction claimed under it 
for a period of one hundred and sixteen years. 

In addition to the acts of jurisdiction referred to above, the 
province of Massachusetts and colony of Rhode Island settled 
or confirmed their line m 1708, (2 Hutch. 359.) And the same 
governments, by their agents, perambulated some portion of the 
line in 1719, when the river, by its intersection with the north 
line, was claimed and allowed to be the boundary. (Record of 
R. Com. 1741-7.) 

For several years prior to 1741, a controversy had subsisted 
between the two governments, in regard to a small gore of land 
between Attleborough, in Massachusetts, and the township of 
Providence. (2 Hutch. 358.) 

In 1740, the claim of Massachusetts upon a certain portion 
of territory, embraced within her charter, and now comprising 
part of the state of New Hampshire, was decided against Mas- 
sachusetts. The commissioners, to settle that question, were 
such as the agent of New Hampshire proposed, viz., five from 
each of the governments of New York, Rhode Island, and 



J81S.J SENATE— No. 128. 11 

Nova Scotia. With the two former governments, Massachu- 
setts was then in controversy about hues. The commissioners 
did not, however, decide the question against Massachusetts, but 
gave a special judgment, which rendered it as difficult to deter- 
mine the line against Massachusetts as if a general judgment 
had been given in her favor. And at the final hearing before 
the crown, to which the difficulty had been by the commission- 
ers referred, all regard to their judgment was laid aside, and 
the call of the Massachusetts charter, of three miles north of 
the Merrimack River, was, for a very large portion of its 
course, disregarded, on the ground that the river, at a certain 
distance from the ocean, had a more north and south course 
than was supposed. A reason, equally weighty, was given for 
the settlement of the line on the side of Maine, where the term 
"north-westward" was defined to mean north two degrees west. 
This decision, proceeding entirely irrespective of the claims of 
either party, gave New Hampshire several hundred thousand 
acres more than her utmost claim, — an area of fifty miles by 
fourteen. (2 Hutch. 346-358. 2 Belknap, 123-170.) Pend- 
ing this appeal. New Hampshire did not disdain to represent 
Massachusetts as a vast, opulent, and overgrown province, 
" while the poor, little, loyal, distressed province of New 
Hampshire, was ready to be devoured, and the king's own 
property swallowed up, by the boundless rapacity of the charter 
government." (2 Belknap, 154.) 

The decision of the controversy with New Hampshire was 
made March 5, 1740. Massachusetts, feeling aggrieved at the 
decision, delayed to answer the call for running and making 
the lines ; and this was done ex-par te in February and March, 
1741. 

Rhode Island was not unaware of the unfriendly attitude 
assumed by the crown towards Massachusetts in her contro- 
versy with New Hampshire, nor ignorant of the jealousy of 
the British government of her growth, and of the pertinacity 
with which she clung to her charter, and her then asserted, 
unalienable rights, and could not but deem this a favorable 
moment to revive her old claim, which had been disposed of 
and settled in 1664, to at least the acquiescence, of all parties. 



12 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

She accordingly applied to the king for commissioners to settle, 
adjust, and determine, the dispute between herself and Massa- 
chusetts; and, on the fourth day of September, 1740, the crown 
appointed " Cadwallader Golden, Abraham Vanhorn, Phillip 
Livingston, Archibald Kennedy, and James DeLancy, of the 
province of New York, John Hamilton, John Wells, John 
Reading, Cornelius Vanhorn, and William Provost, of the 
province of New Jersey, William Shene, William Shirreff, 
Henry Cope, Erasmus James Phillips, and Otho Hamilton, of 
the province of Nova Scotia, or any five or more of them, to 
be commissioners for settling, adjusting, and determining, the 
boundaries of the colony of Rhode Island, in America, east- 
wards, in dispute." The court was to be held at Providence 
on the first Tuesday in April, 1741, and was to appoint one or 
more skilful persons, to make drafts or plans of the country or 
bomidaries, as there should be, from time to time, occasion. 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island were, respectively, to forward 
to the commissioners, at their first day of meeting, a plain and 
full statement of their demands and pretensions, describing 
when, and in what places, the boundaries of the said colony 
ought to begin, and what courses, and with what variations, 
and in what manner, and how far, the same ought to run. 
The form of procedure was definitely set down in the commis- 
sion; the testimony to be under oath, and in writing; and the 
charges of the commission to be borne in equal moieties by the 
province and colony. (Rec. of Comm. Mss. 1-5.) 

On the first of April, 1741, two members appeared, to wit: 
Archibald Kennedy and James de Lancy, and organized the 
court. 

Agreeably to the directions of the commission, the claim of 
Massachusetts was read, as follows : — 

" To the honorable his majesty's commissioners, for marldng 
out and settling the boundaries between his majesty's province 
of Massachusetts Bay and the colony of Rhode Island, east- 
ward: 

" Humbly sheweth the province aforesaid, that they have 
always enjoyed, and still claim, as their boundaries, between 
the province and colony aforesaid, the middle of the Narragan- 



1848.J SENATE— No. 128. 13 

sett River, between the end of Rhode Island and Little Comp- 
ton, where the said river runs into the main ocean ; and from 
thence, along the middle of said river to the mouth of Seaconk 
River; and from thence, up the said river, called Seaconk 
River, below, and Patncket River above, till we come against 
a heap of stones on the east bank of that river, and a marked 
pine, about fifteen rods eastwards ; and, from the said river, at 
that place, a line of marked trees and monuments of stones, 
through the wilderness to the colony of Connecticut, marked 
out and perambulated by both governments, by their agents, 
I4th May, one thousand seven hundred and nineteen ; and 
therefore pray that the boundaries between the province and 
colony, aforesaid, may be settled and adjusted, and determined 
accordingly. 

" The foregoing are the claims of the province of Massachu- 
setts Bay, voted by the general assembly of the said province, 
in their present sessions, held at Boston, the twenty-sixth day 
of March, one thousand seven hundred and forty one. 

J. WiLLARD, Secretary y * 

The claim of Rhode Island was read, as follows : — 

"To the honorable his majesty's commissioners, appointed 
for settling and ascertahiing the boundaries between the prov- 
ince of the Massachusetts Bay and colony of Rhode Island, 
&c., and now sitting in Providence, on the first Tuesday of 
April, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and forty- 
one. 

" May it please your honors : — 

"Whereas his majesty hath been graciously pleased to grant 
his commission for the settling and determining the great con- 
troversy that hath for a long time subsisted between the afore- 
said governments, respecting the eastern boundaries of the said 
colony; and, as particular instructions are given to each gov- 
ernment to send unto the honorable court a plain and full state 
of their demands or pretensions, in writing, describing when 
and in what places the boundaries of said colony, eastward, 
ought to begin, and what courses, and with what variation, 

* Rec. of Comm. Mss. 6-7. 



14 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

and in what manner, and how far, the same ought to run, to 
the end that copies thereof might be mutually exchanged, in 
order to prevent any unnecessary delay : 

"In obedience to which, we, the subscribers, in the name 
and behalf of said colony, say, that there were letters patent 
granted by his majesty, King Charles the Second, to the said 
colony of Rhode Island, dated the eighth day of July, in the 
fifteenth year of his reign, wherein, among other things, there 
was granted and confirmed unto the governor and company of 
said colony, and their successors, all that part of his domin- 
ions in New England, in America, containing the Nchantic and 
Nanhyganset, alias Narraganset Bay, and countries and parts 
adjacent, bounded on the west or westerly, to the middle or 
channel of a river then commonly called and known by the 
names of Pacatuck alias Pawcatuck River, and so along the 
said river, as the greater or middle stream thereof reaches or 
lies up into the norih country northward unto the head thereof; 
and from thence, by a straight line drawn due north, until it 
meet with the south line of the Massachusetts Colony, and on 
the north or northerly by the aforesaid south or southerly line 
of the Massachusetts Colony or plantation, and extending 
toward the east or eastwardly, three English miles, to the east and 
northeast of the most eastern and northeastern parts of the 
aforesaid Narragansett Bay, as the said bay lieth or extendeth 
itself; from the ocean on the south or southerly, unto the mouth 
of the river which runneth towards the town of Providence ; 
and from thence, along the easterly side or bank of said river, 
higher called by the name of Seaconk River, up to the falls 
called Pawtucket Falls, being the most westerly line of Plym- 
outh Colony; and so from the said falls in a straight line due 
north, until it meet with the aforesaid line of the Massachusetts 
Colony, and bounded on the southerly on the ocean ; and, in par- 
ticular, the lands belonging to the towns of Providence, Paw- 
tuccit, Warwick, Misgnomicuck, alias Pawcatuck, and the rest 
upon the mainland in the tract aforesaid, together with Rhode 
Island, Block Island, and all the rest of the islands and banks 
in the Narragansett Bay, and bordering upon the coast of the 
tract aforesaid, (Fisher's Island only excepted,) together with 



ISIS.] SENATE— No. 12S. 15 

all firmlands, soils, grounds, rocks, slates, and all and singu- 
lar other commodities, jurisdictions, royalties, privileges, fran- 
chises, preeminences, and hereditaments whatsoever, within 
said tract, bounds, lands and islands aforesaid, or to them or 
any of Ihem belonging, or in any wise appertaining. By virtue 
of which boundaries, as aforesaid, we apprehend that the said 
colony of Rhode Island hath a just and lawful right to the ju- 
risdiction of all the lands lying within, and bordering on, the 
Narragansett Bay, from three English miles east-northeast, 
from a place called Assonet, the same being the most eastern 
and northeastern part of the aforesaid bay, and from the extent 
of the said three miles, a due south course to the ocean, and 
also from the extent of the said three miles, a west or westerly 
course, unto a place called Fox Point, being the mouth or en- 
trance of the river that runneth unto the town of Providence ; 
and from thence, along the easterly side or bank of said river, 
higher called by the name of Seaconk River, up to the falls 
called Pawtucket Falls ; and so from the said falls in a straight 
line due north, until it meet with the aforesaid line of the Mas- 
sachus tts Colony, and bounded on the south by the ocean. 
All which is respectfully submitted to your honor's considera- 
tion, by 

Peter Bours, 
Sam'l Clark, 
Thomas Spencer, 
Will'm Jencks, 
Stephen Hopkins, 
Daniel Abbott, 
Henry Bull, 
Daniel Updike, 
James Honeyman, Jr." 

A quorum of five commissioners did not appear until April 
the 30th, at which time further proceedings were had in rela- 
tion to their organization, and in receiving the authority of the 
committees appearing for the colony and province. On the sec- 
ond of May, orders were passed for procuring the requisite 
surveys; and on the third day of June, the colony of Rhode Isl- 



16 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

and presented a copy of an act for the payment of the commis- 
sioners on her part, and the evidence on tlie part of Rhode Isl- 
and was introduced. The hearing before the court continued 
to June 30th, 1741. Various witnesses were examined. The 
charters of Plymouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut, with that of 
William and Mary to Massachusetts, in 1691, were read and 
recorded, as were also the proceedings and claims of the colony 
and province, made at different times, as controversies arose be- 
tween them, together with sundry conveyances of tlie territory 
adjacent to the line. The agents of Rhode Island produced a 
copy of the humble petition and address of the governor and 
company of his majesty's colony of Rhode Island and Provi- 
dence Plantation, in New England, presented to king Charles 
the Second soon after his restoration. The paper was certified 
by Governor Ward of Rhode Island. The records of Massa- 
chusetts afforded no such propitiatory evidence. Accompanying 
the petition, was a letter to the chancellor. Lord Clarendon, in 
which he was solicited to press their petition on the attention of 
the king, in the matter of their claim to the eastern boundary, 
as recited in their charter. Among the reasons stated why they 
should possess the territory east of the Narragansett waters, are, 
" that the land had never been improved by New Plymouth, 
but had been waste near forty years since they first began that 
plantation. Besides, many of them had bought land near the 
water on that side of the Indian owners, and possessed it many 
years peaceably, it being so very remote from Plymouth town, 
and from any town of that colony, as that it would be of little 
use to them if they had it ; and because, from its nearness to 
this colony, convicts could make their escape into it." (Rec. of 
Com. Mss. 38, 219-223.) 

In order to present a true history of this transaction, your 
committee are compelled to state that the paper presented by 
Rhode Island to its commissioners, as reasons for her claim to 
the territory in dispute, and purporting to be taken from her own 
records, and certified as a true copy, was, in fact, a false copy, 
as appears by the Rhode Island stale papers transcribed by 
Samuel Eddy, Esq., and published in the Mass. His. Coll., 
vol. 7j 2d series, pages 101-7. In examining these papers, 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 17 

it will be seen that some of the reasons originally given to the 
king, in 1G65 and 6, for transferring the territory to Rhode Isl- 
and, are not contained in the copy presented to the court, while 
part of the letter to the elm; cellor is annexed to the reasons, 
omitting, however, the offered bribe of one thousand acres of 
land out of the territory prayed for, which is directly held out 
in the first paragraph of the original letter in the following 
words: — "And, however, having not wherein else to show 
their grateful acknowledgments, did design to choose and set 
apart, out of this small tract, a competent and convenient tract 
of land for a farm of a thousand acres, or thereabouts, and to 
have begged your lordship's acceptance of the same, so as to 
own and dispose of it at your honor's pleasure, and should take 
it as the greatest favour possible, your lordship's acceptance 
thereof." 

This letter belongs to the early history of Rhode Island, and 
its lax morality would seem to justify the course pursued by 
Massachusetts towards her early settlers. We forbear, howev- 
er, commenting upon the letter of 1665, or the false copy of 
1741, as we are satisfied that nowhere would the whole trans- 
action meet with a sterner rebuke than in Rhode Island itself 

The fifth reason presented to the chancellor has these words : 
" Because the mainland on the east side, as aforesaid, is so near 
the Island, and the river between so convenient, that a ;own on 
that side would answer to them on this side very commodious- 
ly on all occasions of reliefer defence," &c. &c. 

It will be seen that, in this paper, the waters between the isl- 
and of Rhode Island, and Plymouth Colony, were, in 1665, 
called a river by Rhode Island in her representation to Great 
Britain. At the trial, in 1741, Massachusetts contended that it 
had been so called and known. Rhode Island denied that it 
had been so called and known ; and in presenting her evidence 
to the court, she suppressed this fifth reason from the copy, and 
had the benefit of the false certificate. 

These papers will be found in the appendix in full. The 
suppressed passages are in italics. 

Sundry books of narrative published in 1622, 1624, 1646, 
1652, 1674, and 1677, were offered by the agents of Massachu- 
3 



18 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

setts in evidence, but were rejected ; and the record does not 
state the substance of the testimony, or the reasons of its rejec- 
tion, other than the same was improper and insufficient. (Rec. 
Comm., 231-2.) 

An apphcation to have Sowamset set down upon the plan 
made by the surveyors, was refused by the court, unless Rhode 
Island would consent. (Rec. Comm., 250.) 

The judgment of the court was as follows : — 

" Providence, June 30th, 1741. 

" The court took in consideration the charters, deeds, and 
other evidences, claims, pleas, and allegations, produced and 
made by each party, referring to the controversy before them, 
and, after mature advisement, came to the following resolu- 
tions : — 

" That there is not any evidence proving that the water be- 
tween the mainland on the east, and Rhode Island on the 
west, was ever, at any time, called Narragansett River. 

" That, though there be evidence that the place where the In- 
dian called King Philip lived, near Bristol, was called Paucon- 
oket, and that another place near Swanzey was called Sowams 
or Sowamset, yet no evidence has been produced of the extent 
of the Paukonet country to Seconkor Patucket river as it runs 
to the south line of the late colony of the Massachusetts Bay; 
for though there be some evidence that the Indians at enmity 
with King Philip, or with other Indians in amity with him, 
lived on the west side of the said river, and that the Indians 
subject to King Philip, or in amity with him, lived on the east 
side of said river, there is no evidence that all the Indians sub- 
ject to or in amity with King Philip, lived in the Poconoket 
country. 

" That, the province not having produced the letters patent 
constituting the council of Plymouth, nor any copy thereof, the 
recital of said letters patent, in the deed from the said council of 
Plymouth to Bradford and his associates, is not sufficient evi- 
dence against the king's charter. 

"That the council of Plymouth, being a corporation, could 
not create another corporation, and that no jurisdiction wiihin 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 19 

the King's dominions in America can be held by prescription, 
or on the foot of prescription. 

" That the determination of the boundaries of tlie colonies 
of Rhode Island and New Plymouth by the King's commission- 
ers, in the year 1664, appears to have been only a temporary 
order for preserving the peace on the borders of both colonies, 
without determining the rights and titles of either. 

"Upon the whole, nothing appears whereby the colony of 
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations can be barred or 
hindered from extending their jurisdiction eastward towards 
the province of the Massachusetts Bay according to the true in- 
tent and meaning of their charter ; but, some dispute having 
arisen as to the true construction and meaning thereof, the court 
is of opinion, that the Narragansett Bay is, and extendeth itself, 
from Point Judith on the west, to Seconet Point on the east, and, 
including the islands therein, layeth or extendeth itself unto 
the mouth of the river which runneth towards the town of Prov- 
idence; and that as it so lies, and extends itself, it has, and may- 
be considered as having, one eastern side as the eastern coast of 
the said bay runs up northerly from Seconet Point, and one other 
north-eastern side, from near Mount Hope to Bullock's Neck as 
the said bay runs up north-westerly towards the town of Prov- 
idence ; and that the lands adjacent to the said north-eastern 
and eastern coasts, and included within the following lines and 
the said bay, are within the jurisdiction of Rhode Island, viz: — 
on the north-east side of said bay — one line running from the 
south-west corner of Bullock's Neck, north-east, three miles: — 
one other line, running from the north-east extremity of said line, 
until it be terminated by a line three miles north-east from the 
north-easternmost part of the bay, on the west side of Rum- 
stick Neck : — and one other line, from the termination of the last 
line, to the bay, at, or near Toweset Neck; running so that it 
touch the north-east extremity of a line running three miles 
north-east from the north-east corner of Bristol Harbor, and on 
the eastern side of said bay, one line from a certain point on the 
said eastern side of the bay, opposite to the southernmost part 
of Shawomet Neck, and four hundred and forty rods to the south- 
ward of the mouth of Fall River — running east three miles : — 
and one other line, running from the easternmost extremity of 



20 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

said line, till it be terminated by the easternmost end of a line 
three miles east from the easternmost part of a cove in the said 
ba}'', which is to the southward of Nannequacket: — and one other 
line, from the termination of the last line to the sea, running on 
such course as to be three miles east from the easternmost part 
of the bay adjoining to Setehawset, on Rhode Island — and that 
the said distances of three miles east, and north-east, are to be 
measured from high-water mark. And this court doth hereby 
settle, adjust, and determine, that the eastern boundary of the 
said colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, toward 
the Massachusetts Bay, is, shall be, and runs, from a certain 
point where a meridian ine passing through Pawtucket Falls 
cuts the south boundary of the colony of Massachusetts 
Bay south to Pawtucket Falls ; thence, southerly, along the east- 
ward side of Seconk river, and the river which runneth towards 
the town of Providence, to the south-west corner of Bullock's 
Neck; thence, north-east, three miles; then along the aforesaid 
lines, running at three miles distance from the north-eastern- 
most parts of said bay, to the said bay at or near Toweset 
Neck; then, as the said bay runs to the southernmost part of 
Shawomet Neck, and then in a straight line to the aforesaid 
point opposite to the said neck; then east three miles, and then 
along the aforesaid lines running at three miles distance from 
the easternmost parts of the said bay, to the sea. All which 
lines are to be run by making the proper allowances for the va- 
riation of the magnetic needle from the meridian. And for the 
better understanding of the description of the lines before men- 
tioned, the court hath caused the boundary lines of the land ad- 
jacent to the said most eastern and north-eastern parts of said 
bay, to be delineated on the map or plan of the said bay, and 
countries adjacent now in court, and the same are distinguished 
in the said map or plan by A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. 

" Cadwallader Colden, 
Ph. Livingston, 
Arch'd. Kennedy, 
Will. Sheane, 
Erasmus I. Philipps, 
Otho Hamilton." 



1S48.J SENATE— No. 128. 21 

The judgment is signed by six out of the fifteen commis- 
sioners, appointed to compose the court — three of whom were 
from New York, and three from Nova Scotia. Mr, SliirrefF's 
name is not affixed to the judgment, ahhough the record shows 
him present. Mr. DeLancy was in attendance, as appears by 
the record, on the 27th of June. The ( ommissioners from New 
Jersey did not attend, and the record shows the names of but 
eight present during the hearing. It thus appt ars, that the 
judgment given was not the judgment of a majority of the 
court; but, one third of their number being a quorum, the ren- 
dition of a judgment was within the authority conferred by the 
charter. 

Massachusetts complained of the decision, and on the fourth 
day of Sept., 1741, entered her appeal in the following words : 

" To the honorable his majesty's commissioners for settling 
the eastern boundary of the colony of Rhode Island, &c., 
towards the province of the Massachusetts Bay, convened at 
Providence, Friday the fourth of September, 1741 : — 

" May it please your honors, we the subscribers, by order of 
the great and general court of the province of the Massachu- 
setts Bay, do, by this writing and declaration, in behalf of the 
said province, appeal, from the judgment and determination of 
this honorable court, here on the thirtieth day of June last past, 
for determining the eastern boundary of the colony of Rhode 
Island, &c., towards the said province, and from every part of 
it, as grievous and injurious to us, unto his most sacred majesty 
in his privy council, to be heard, and finally determined ac- 
cording to our claims, laid before this court, and pray it may 
be entered accordingly. 

"Samuel Welles, 
John Read, 
Nath'l Hubbard, 
Thos. Gushing, 
John Foster." 

The colony of Rhode Island also appealed from that part of 
the judgment, fixing the line from Bullock's Neck to the 
ocean, claiming that the tnouth of the river, which ran 
towards Providence, was at Fox Point, and that a line should be 



22 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

run therefrom, to a point three miles east north-east from As- 
sonett, thence due south to the Atlantic, and striking the ocean 
between Point Perrill and Slocum's Harbor, as shown on the 
commissioners' plan, and about nine miles from Seaconnett 
Point, the northern limit of Narraganzett Bay. 

In examining this decision, even after a lapse of a hundred 
years, it is impossible not to be struck with its injustice, and not 
to discover the illiberal and narrow views, which the court 
seem to have taken, in relation to the principles which they 
adopt as expressed in their resolutions. 

They first say, " that there is not any evidc?icc proving that the 
water between the mainland on the cast, and. Rhode Island, 7cas 
ever at any time called Narragansett River ;" we apprehend that 
an examination of this proposition with the facts even now 
susceptible of proof, will show that it was erroneous. 

The charter of New Plymouth, granted in 1629, calls a river 
Narragansett, at its southerly border, and names the country by 
its Indian inhabitants, Pokencutt, and Sowamsett, conveying one 
half of the river — calling it, as above, Narragansett. The Plym- 
outh Colony, and Massachusetts Province, had an actual, an 
acquiesced, and an adjudicated possession of the land and 
jurisdiction in question, from 1629 to 1741. T h ■ Pokonoket 
tribes of Indians held to this river : when king Philip was sub- 
dued, Charles II granted the Pokonet country to Plymouth 
Colony. Roger Williams acquiesced in the jurisdiction of Plym- 
outh, before the first charter of Rhode Island was granted, 
and after the second was issued, and the boundaries settled by 
the commissioners of 1664. The court found no other river 
called Narraganzett upon the continent, as early as 1629. They 
bound the province upon these waters, whenever their con- 
struction of the Rhode Island charter will allow them to do 
so. The charter of Connecticut was granted by Charles II, 
April 23, 16 — , by which he granted to John Winthrop and 
others, certain territory, as follows : — " all that part of our domin- 
ions in New England, in America, bounded on the east by Aor- 
raganzet River, commonly called Narraganzet Bay, where the 
said river falleth into the sea, and, on the north, by the line of the 
Massachusetts Plantation." The commissioners of 1683, ap- 
pointed to examine into, and settle, the claims and titles to the 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 23 

Narragansett Country, in their report to the king, have these 
Avords : " that the Narraganzett Bay or River, where it falls into 
the sea, bounds the Narraganzettcountry, easterly ; and, by a tes- 
timony given by Governor Winslow inhisHfe-time,upon another 
occasion, and also by inforn^ation of sundry old and principal 
Indians, it appears that Patucket River falling into the greater 
Narraganzett River or Bay, that bounds Narraganzett eastward." 
Again, they say " it is the river anciently called Narragan- 
zett, both because it, on the eastward, washes the whole length 
of the Narraganzett country, and for that Plymouth ( O i ny, 
which hath now been planted near threescore years, have ever 
since bounded themselves, according to the scheme or 1 mitation 
of their patent, by the same bay called Narragansett River 
towards the south, into which the freshets of said river called 
Patucket empties itself in a precipice." (5 Mass. Hist. Coll., 
235-243. 4 R. I. do. 233-234.) 

In the fifth reason accompanying the letter to Lord Claren- 
don, before referred to as suppressed by Rhode Island, it will be 
seen that the waters between the island of Rhode Island, and 
the mainland on the east, were called in 1665, by Rhode Island, 
"the river," and, if a river, it could be no other than the Nar- 
ragansett River. 

Nearly all this testimony was before the commissioners, and 
we think it shows conclusively, (hat there was evidence proving 
that the water between the mainland on the east, and Rhode 
Island, was for a long period of time called Narragansett River. 

The second resolution of the court is as follows, to wit: — 
" That, though there be evidence that the place where the Indian, 
called King Philip, lived, vear Bristol, loas called Pankonoket, 
and that another place, near Swanzey, was called Sowanis, or 
Saiowamset, yet no evidence has been produced of the extent of 
the Pankonoket country, to Siconk or Pawtncket River, as it 
runs to the south line of the late Colony of Massachusetts Bay ; 
for tliough there be some evidence, that the Indians at enmity 
with King Philip, or with other Indians in amity with him, 
lived on the west side of said river, and that the Indians subject 
to King Philip, or in amity with him, lived on the east side of 
said river, there is no evidence that all the Indians subject to, or 
in amity with, King Philip, lived in the Pankonoket country.''^ 



24 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

The words of the charter, upon which the foregoing resolu- 
tion is supposed to bear, are the following: — "Extending up 
into the mainland, towards the west, from the mouth of the 
said river, called Narragansett River, to the utmost limits and 
bounds of a country or place in New England, called Pokena- 
cutt, (Pokonoket,) alias Sowamset, westward; and another 
like straight line, extending itself directly from the mouth of 
the said river, called Coahassett, alias Conahassett, towards 
the west, so far into the mainlands westward as the utmost 
limits of the said place or country, commonly called Pokenacutt, 
(Pokonoket,) alias Sowamset, do extend, together with one 
half of the said river, called Narragansetts, &c." 

At the date of the charter of New Plymouth, the whole 
country east of the Narragansett was owned by nine Indian 
bribes, comprising the Pokonoket Confederacy. Each tribe 
was governed by its own sachem, all subject to one grand 
sachem, the chief of the Wampanoags, that being the principal 
tribe of the confederation. This chief was Massasoit, whose 
residence was at Mount Hope. The name of J\)konoket was 
applied to no one tribe, but was used to express the union 
of the whole. Not unlikely, the seat of the grand sachem, or 
rather the particular residence of his tribe, might have been 
sometimes called Pokonoket. But the people of New Plymouth 
had visited the Narragansett, were acquainted with Massasoit, 
an alliance had been formed between his people and the 
English, and the latter were well acquainted with his power, 
and the extent of the country claimed by the allied tribes^ 
The hostility of the Narragansetts to the Pokonokets was also 
Avell understood ; and as the policy of the English, at that day, 
was to maintain an alliance with some powerful tribe, a treaty 
was made with Massasoit in 1620, and, in 1621, nine tributary 
sachems of Massasoit acknowledged themselves subjects of 
King James; and while, in Massachusetts, the Indians were 
not (as in Plymouth) under one grand sachem, and were 
always designated and treated as distinct and independent tribes, 
the terms Pokonoket or Philip's Indians were synonymous, and 
descriptive of the aforesaid confederacy. 

Philip, or Metacom, was the last chief of the Wampanoags, 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 25 

and grand sachem of the Pokonokets. He succeeded his 
brotlicr Alexander, or Wamsitta, and had his residence at 
Mount Hope. 

The smaller tribes were,— 7 

The Pocasset, located in the territory of what is now Fall 
River and Tiverton. Their sachem was Corbitant, who was 
succeeded by Waetamoro, a female, the wife successively of 
Alexander and Petanuet. From the former she derived her 
distinction as head of the tribe. 

The SecomieJ. Their seat was at Seconnet, now Little 
Compton, and they were ruled by Awashunks, a female, who 
was married to Waweyet. 

The Namasket tribe were near Middleborough, the Assa- 
wampsit of that period. Their sachem was Tispaquin, alias 
Tisquantum. 

The Nausetls occupied what is now Eastham. Their sachem 
was Aspinett. 

The Mattachvcs were on the present territory of Barnstable, 
and had, for sachem, lyanough. 

The Monamoits inhabited the territory comprising the present 
town of Chatham. Their sachem was Cocenaucum. 

The ISaiikatucketts were around Marshpee. 

The Nobsqiiassetts had their residence still lower on the Cape, 
and not far from the present town of Yarmouth. 

The sachems of the two last-named tribes are not known. 

These nine tribes are understood to be all who claimed any 
right to the soil in the territory east of the Narragansett, and 
within the New Plymouth patent. Massasoit claimed Aqued- 
neck, now the island of Rhode Island, and also "was at feud 
for Sowamet, (the present Warwick,) which was disputed by 
Pumham." (Book of the Indians, 2 — 28; Roger Williams's 
Letters.) 

By an inspection of the map, it will be seen, that the inferior 
tribes are located east and north of the course of the Narragan- 
sett or Pawtucket, and that the country bordering on the river 
is not covered by their location. If their residence be correctly 
given, and there be no other tribes east of the Narragansett 
country and the river, it will follow that Philip's Indians, 
4 



26 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

whether called Wampanoags or Pokonokets, must have owned 
the territory in question, and it, being so owned, would pass by 
the general description of the Pokonoket country; for if it be- 
longed to the nine confederated tribes, or to either of them, and 
especially if held by the Wampanoags, it would be a good gen- 
eral description, to call it the Pokonoket Country. 

Previous to the discovery of the continent, the soil and juris- 
diction were in the Indians, who had their separate hunting- 
grounds, and their border wars to maintain them. The right 
to dispose of lands was in the chief, or sachem, and titles 
acquired by the whites have generally, if not invariably, been 
derived from him. A conveyance, then, of land, by a sachem 
having title, would vest the property in his grantee. 

At the commissioners' court, in 1741, it was in testimony, 
and uncontradicted, that the Pokonoket country extended up 
the Puwtucket (now Blackstone Riv^r,) and embraced all the 
land eastwardly of it; and that the river was the boundary line 
between Philip and those Indians who were at enmity with 
him. The witnesses use indiscriminately the term Pokonoket 
country and Philip's Indians. (Rec. 45-87.) 

This evidence shows that Philip held the land originally as 
the seat of his own tribe, from his residence at Mount Hope, on 
the river, and east to the territory of his confederates, running 
up the river, (including what is now Cumberland,) to the Nip- 
muk country. 

This state of facts is further confirmed by known acts, de- 
rived from the history of that day. For Massasoit, and his 
son Wamsitta, on the ninth day of March, 1653, conveyed all 
" those several parcells of land lying on the south-easterly side 
of Sinkunke, (Seaconk.) alias Rehoboth, bounded by a little 
brook of water called Maskituash westerly, and soe running by 
a dead swamp eastward, and soe by marked trees, as Ousam- 
equin (Massasoit,) and Wamsitta, directed, unto the great river, 
and all the meadow on the sides of both, and about the neck 
called Chachacutt, also Papasquash Neck, also the meadow 
from the bay to Keecome west," &c. (Book of the Indians, 
chap. 2, 27 and 28. Plymouth Rec, vol. i. 78.) 

In 1661, April 8, Wamsitta conveyed to Thomas Willet, (who 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 27 

on the 10th of the same month surrendered the same to the use of 
Plymouth Colony,) "a tract of land from the bounds of Reho- 
both and ranging on Patuckct River, unto a place called Wawe- 
youngshag," &-C. This is what is called the North Purchase. 
(Rec. of Com. 160.) 

In 1668, March 30, Philip released his right to the land on 
the east and west sides of Palmer's River, reciting that his father 
had previously conveyed the territory, to wit, in the year 1640, 
to John Brown and Edward Winslow; calling it eight miles 
square. (Rec. of Com., 96-8. Plymouth Col. Records, 116.) 

In 1617, Plymouth Colony gave the inhabitants of Rehoboth 
liberty to use the meadow on Sowams River, (probably Barring- 
ton River.) (P. C. Orders and Grants, vol. iii.) 

In 1664, Rehoboth and Sowamet were united in all public 
rates. (Same, vol. iv, 79, 99.) 

In 1671, the North Purchase v/as annexed to Rehoboth. 
(P. C. Orders and Grants; vol. v, 48.) 

In 1682, the bounds of Rehoboth were run, and marked, by 
order of the court of New Plymouth, and the Salt River 
(which is the Narragansett or Seekonk.) and the Patucket 
River are declared its " west bound." (P. C. Orders and Grants, 
vol. vi, 77.) 

These deeds convey the territory of the present towns of 
Attleborough, Patucket, Seekonk, Rehoboth, and a part of 
Swansey, in Massachusetts, and Cumberland, and a part of 
Barrington and Warren, in Rhode Island. 

It thus appears, that the whole territory, claimed before the 
court in 1741, by Massachusetts, was held under the charter 
of Plymouth, and by purchase from the natives, and that no 
claim to the territory, on the part of any other Indians than 
the Pokonokets, Avas pretended, before the court. It was en- 
tirely beside the point made by Massachusetts, to resolve that 
it did not appear that all Philip's Indians lived on the cast side 
of the river. If it appeared that some of his tribe, or his con- 
federates, lived west of the river, the claim of Massachusetts 
might thereby have been strengthened. It could not, from that 
cause, have been weakened. There is difficulty in extracting 
from the resolution any principle bearing upon the point in con- 



28 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

troversy, except so much as appears to throw into doubt the 
extent of the Pokonoket country. The facts above cited show- 
that there could have been no question that the extent of the 
Pokonoket country was at least coextensive with the Massa- 
chusetts claim, and we dismiss the consideration of this resolu- 
tion, with the declaration that it afiirms no fact, and asserts no 
principle of law or reason, justifying the decision announced by 
the court. 

The third resolution to which the commissioners came was: — 
" That the provhice, not having 'produced the letters jm tent consti- 
tuting the council of Plymouth, nor any copy thereof^ the recital 
of said letters patent, in the deed from the said council to Brad- 
ford and his associates, is not sufficient evidence against the 
king^s charier y 

It appears, by the record of the trial, that when the New 
Plymouth charter was read, (the original being produced,) 
the counsel for Rhode Island objected, that the certificate of 
livery of seizin on the back of the same, though regularly 
attested, was all in the handwriting of one person; and the fact 
was conceded. The objection was overruled, and the charter 
was then read and recorded, without further objection. Nor 
does it appear, throughout the record, that Rhode Island made 
any other objection whatever to the charter, or its recitals. It 
was well known, that the charter of the council of Plymouth, 
England, was surrendered to the king in 1635, without, how- 
ever, affecting any grant before made; that the original charter 
could be found, if at all, at London only. Even if it had not 
been surrendered, its production at the court could not have 
been supposed a possible event. The fact, that such a charter 
once existed, conveying to the patentees eight parallels of lati- 
tude, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, for the avowed 
object of founding and rearing up an empire, — that the said par- 
allels of latitude embraced those set down in the New Plymouth 
charter, — was as well known as any fact in English history; and 
it was also well known, from the same authority, and from spe- 
cific evidence read to the commissioners, that the territory in 
dispute had been held under those grants for one hundred and 
twelve years; that the fullest exercise of sovereignty and juris- 



1848.] SENATE— No. 12S. 29 

diction, compatible with the claim of the crown, had been 
asserted and maintained; that the government had been fre- 
quently recognized by the king, in letters to them, and in con- 
firmation of their acts; that the Mount Hope country (now 
Bristol) had been granted to Plymouth Colony, by Charles II, 
in 1679, and that the charter of New Plymouth had been con- 
sidered and adjudicated upon by commissioners and by the 
crown. 

Under these circumstances, it could not be supposed that the 
validity of the charter of New Plymouth would or could be 
questioned in a court, acting upon the principles, or under any 
rule, of judicial procedure. Still less, could it be supposed 
that the charter, after being read as evidence of title on the 
part of Massachusetts, and submitted to on the part of Rhode 
Island, would be objected to by the court, in pronouncing their 
opinion. Had the objection been taken at the hearing, Massa- 
chusetts could have procured a copy of the first charter from 
England, and, in a matter of so much importance, an opportu- 
nity for the purpose would have been allowed. 

Although we are of opinion that the commissioners adopted 
a very narrow rule of evidence, when it is considered that the 
question before them was one of empire, still, the decision upon 
that point could not have afi'ected the ultimate question in 
London, where the existence of the New England charter, if 
questioned, could have been proved by records within the reach 
of all parties. 

The fourth and last resolution of the commissioners was : — 
" That the council of Plymouth^ being a corporation^ could not 
create another corporation ; and that no jurisdiction within the 
king' s dominions in America can be held by prescription^ or on 
the foot of prescription : That the determination of the bounda- 
ries of the colonies of Rhode Island and Neiv Plymouth, by the 
king^s commissioners, in the year 1664, appears to have been 
only a temporary order for preserving the peace on the borders 
of both, colonies, without determining the rights and titles of 
eitlier." 

The words used by the commissioners of 1664, in giving their 
judgment between the colonies of New Plymouth and Rhode 
Island, are, that the line fixed by them, shall "be the present 



30 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

bounds betwixt His Majesty's colonies of Plymouth and Rhode 
Island, until His Majesty's pleasure be further known concern- 
ing them;" and both parties were desired to send their claims 
and reasons, so that His Majesty might have true information 
of them. It is presumed this was done; and, in 1679, the king 
addressed a letter to the governor and magistrates of Rhode 
Island, upon the subject of the territory of the Narragansett 
country, and requested them to send to him what right or title 
any of the colonies had to the lands of Mount Hope. The 
governor of Rhode Island, August 1st, 1679, addressed an hum- 
ble letter to the crown, asking that the Mount Hope lands 
should be ceded to Rhode Island, as within its charter, but 
truthfully disclaiming any active participation in the war which 
had wrested the lands from the Indians. 

The United Colonies of New England, also, addressed a let- 
ter upon this subject, stating, among other things, that Mount 
Hope was within the bounds of Plymouth charter. 

The subject of the boundaries of the two colonies was thus 
brought directly before the king, about fifteen years after the 
determination by Carr and his associates, in 1664; and the decis- 
ion of the king was in favor of Plymouth; and the lands were 
confirmed to her. Here we find a direct decision of the ques- 
tion which was, by the commission of 1664, referred to the king, 
whereby the bounds settled by them were confirmed, and the 
Plymouth charter construed as covering the Mount Hope lands, 
and consequently bounded on the Narragansett River or Bay. 
(5 Mass. His. Coll. 221-9, where the letters are found.) 

To another part of the resolution, " that no jurisdiction with- 
in the king's dominions in America can he held by prescription , 
or on the foot of j/rescription,''' we presume no objection can be 
made. According to the known maxim of the English law — 
mdlum temjms occiirrit regi — the colonies could not set up a 
claim of jurisdiction against the king, or against his grants, 
upon the ground of adverse possession as evidence of a former 
grant. That no statute of limitation ran against the crown, was 
another principle of law, equally clear. But, in the view we 
take of the facts and the law of the case, the principle, how- 
ever well established, and sound, has no immediate bearing 
upon the question. 



1S48.] SENATE— No. 128. 31 

The remainder of the resolution was, " that the council oi 
Plymouth, being a corporation, could not create another corpo- 
ration." 

This principle was held to be law, in the case of Buckland v. 
Foiicher, in 2 Henry VII ; and is referred to, in the case of Sut- 
ton's Hospital, 10 Coke, 23 ; but is not there reaffirmed. The 
comments of elementary writers, and subsequent decisions upon 
the same question, show that, in 1741, the law of England was 
not so held. 

In quoting the decision of 2d Hen. VII, Kyd, at page 50, 
says, "But the law has been well settled to the contrary, and 
the king may not only grant a license to a subject to erect a par- 
ticular corporation, but give a general power, by charter, to erect 
corporations indefinitely. This is on the principle qui facit per 
allum facit per 5e, and the persons to whom the power of estab- 
lishing corporations is delegated, are only an instrument in the 
hands of the government. In this manner, the chancellor of the 
University of Oxford is authorized to grant corporate privileges, 
and has, by virtue of such authority, created several matricula- 
ted companies of tradesmen." (I Bla. Com. 473.) 

So it has been held, that a corporation may make a fraternity 
or company within themselves. (1 Sal., 192.) 

The king, by a grant to the East India Comp., &c., may en- 
able them to constitute such persons, who shall be incorporated. 
(1 Bla. Com., 473 ) 

In Bro. Abr. tit. Prerog. 53 ; and in Viner, Prerog. 88, pi. 16, it 
is said " the king may grant to a subject the power of erecting 
corporations, though the contrary was formerly held." 

If recurrence be again had to the charter of New England, it 
will be seen that it contains, subject to the tenure and the pay- 
ment of " one fifth part of the ores of gold and silver," full 
powers of government, including the right of punishing and 
pardoning. And, under this charter, the grantees therein make 
the charter of the colony; granting the entire jurisdiction of 
the territory, with the powers of making laws not repugnant to 
those of England, to Bradford and his associates, and this in 
as full and ample a manner as the council could grant under its 
charter, restraining them only in the exercise of admiralty pow- 
ers and the right of coinage. 



32 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

At the time of the making this second charter, Mr. Bradford 
and his associates had rightfully, and from necessity, associated 
together for their joint interest and protection, had constructed 
and organized a government, established a judicature, made 
treaties, and, for the king, received the submission of the Indian 
chiefs. They had become^ by their own free action and consent, 
a body politic and corporate, and were — subject only to their de- 
pendence upon the British crown, — a perfect government. And 
that government was carried on, from the time of its forma- 
tion, in 1620, until it was merged in that of the Massachusetts 
Bay, in 1691. Its rightful exercise of jurisdiction was often 
questioned. There were attempts to establish a supervisory 
power over it as well as over the other colonies. The govern- 
ment, however, never relaxed in its power and progress, and, 
during its separate existence, levied war, made peace, and con- 
tracted alliances. 

In view of the history of the colony, of its repeated and con- 
tinuous exercise of the highest acts of sovereignty, always 
known and repeatedly confirmed by the British crown, the dec- 
laration that the council of Plymouth could not create a cor- 
poration, even were it law, would not reach the point which it 
seems was presented to the court. The land had been granted by 
the charter, a portion of it confirmed by the honorary grant of 
the king. If, then, Plymouth Colony was in the enjoyment of 
corporate powers, and was a government in the exercise of 
complete jurisdiction over the territory, by the consent and ap- 
probation of the crown, the real question presented to the court, 
would seem to be, whether Plymouth Colony was de facto a corpo- 
ration in 1663, and as such, had been acknowledged by the king. 

It will be perceived, that the sole object of the New Eng- 
land charter, and the subsequent one to Bradford and his asso- 
ciates, was to plant an empire in New England. An empire 
supposes a government, — a government is a body politic and 
corporate, — and the idea that the object of the charters was to 
be obtained, that a government was to be carried on, without 
the creation of a corporation, is an absurdity. Before the uni- 
on with Massachusetts, Plymouth Colony had created twenty 
towns, each of which averaged probably four corporations 
within its limits, so that by 1691 there were, within the terri- 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 33 

tory of Plymouth Colony, about one hundred corporations, all 
I aving 1 e powers of legislation. In 1741, this number was 
much larger. And this state of things was as well known as 
the diurnal revolutions ; and the propriety of the transactions 
was never questioned ; for it should be remembered that, 
whilst the crown frequently claimed the right to appoint the 
governor and council of the colony, (to wit, the officers of the 
corporation,) the exercise of corporate power and the propriety 
of, and necessity for, such exercise were never questioned. 

In view of these facts, it would seem that Plymouth Colony 
was a body politic and corporate, rightfully created, acknowl- 
edged and confirmed ; that she had a charter which embraced 
the land in controversy ; that it was older than that of Rhode 
Island, and ought to have prevailed against it. 

It is a principle of the English law, applied to the construc- 
tion of charters from the crown, that, when the king has been 
deceived, his grant shall be void. The charter of Rhode Island 
was granted upon the application of the grantees, of whom 
John Clark is first named. Mr. Clark had himself been noti- 
fied by the Plymouth Colony to leave Sowams, it being within 
their charter. He accordingly removed to the island of Rhode 
Island, to be out of their jurisdiction. It was, therefore, known 
by the grantees that they had obtained a grant of land included 
in the Plymouth charter. The transaction on the part of Mr. 
Clark was fraudulent ; and that the king was deceived, is evi- 
dent from the fact that, in 1679, he confirmed to the colony of 
Plymouth, the possession and jurisdiction of a portion of the 
land transferred to Rhode Island by the commissioners of 1741 ; 
and that, upon information furnished by all the colonies of 
New England. Another fact tending to show that the king 
was deceived by the act of the grantees, appears in the charter 
itself, where the lines given are expressed by the boundary of 
the Plymouth Colony; and it was well known that Plymouth 
Colony was in possession of the land to the waters of the Nar- 
ragansett, and that the charter thus obtained was an encroach- 
ment upon her territory. 

The decision of the commissioners was, however, confirmed 
by the king in 1746. 

In examining the history of that period, it appears that the 
5 



34 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

decision was unexpected by Massachusetts. It is now certain 
she was deceiving lierself. The energy and prowess exhibited 
by her at Louisburg was viewed with jealousy rather than 
favor. The tenacity with which she held to her charte ; her 
disputes with the crown upon all questions of conflicting juris- 
diction ; and especially her opposition to the navigation act, and 
refusal to administer the oath of allegiance \' ithout a qualifica- 
tion of her own, all show that, however well she was laying 
the foundations of civil liberty, and preparing herself for a con- 
test which her statesmen early anticipated, she should have 
expected, that her interests, whenever submitted to the decision 
of the crown, would be disregarded, and no opportunity lost to 
abridge her resources and her^power. 

The decision of the crown, confirming the award of the com- 
missioners of 1741, was communicated to Massachusetts, as ap- 
pears by the Governor's speech to both Houses, December 30, 
1746, in the recess of the Legislature. It was, 1 y the Governor, 
referred to the consideration of the General Court, and imme- 
diate action appears to have been taken upon the subject. But 
it appearing that Rhode Island had, on the second day of Decem- 
ber, 1746, run the line between the two colonies, in pretended 
conformity with the award, it was not thought necessary to go 
into any further consideration of the affair at that time. 

The proceedings of the Mass. General Court, and of the 
Rhode Island commissioners, will be found in the Appendix, B. 
It appears, by the papers above referred to, that the line of the 
award was attempted to be run out by the Rhode Island com- 
missioners twenty-two days before the sitting of the General 
Court in Massachusetts. For this haste there could have been 
no excuse. It was undoubtedly necessary that the line between 
the colonies should be ascertained and marked ; and, had Mas- 
sachusetts declined or refused to act in the matter, after due 
notice, it would have been proper for Rhode Island to have run 
the line ex parte. Unfortunately for her, she did not wait for 
such an exigency ; and, by her undue haste, and her manifest 
errors o' measurement and survey, she has thrown a suspicion 
upon the purity of her intentions, which a knowledge of her 
real motives n ight dispel. 
Your Committee do not find that any notice to Massachusetts 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 35 

was given, by Rhode Island, of the running and marking of the 
Hne by the ex-parte commissioners, after it had been completed, 
or that any certain bounds were set up of a character or kind 
to disclose their object. 

The next action of Massachusetts upon this subject, is found 
in a letter written at the call of the Congress of the United 
States, 2nd December, 1779, and a resolve passed the same day, 
in which it is declared, "that this State has a clear right to all 
lands contained within the known and established limits of the 
old colony of Plymouth." (Resolves of Mass. 1779-80, p. 150.) 

In 1791, on the Sth of March, the legislature of Massachu- 
setts passed the following act: — "Whereas it appears, by com- 
munications received from the Governor of the State of Rhode 
Island, that disputes and difficulties have arisen, respecting the 
boundary line between this Commonwealth and the said State of 
Rhode Island, — to prevent which in future, and to promote har- 
mony and affection between this Commonwealth and such State : 

" Sect. 1. Be it enacted, (fee. That the honorable Walter 
Spooner, Elisha May, and David Cobb, Esquires, be, and they 
hereby are, appointed commissioners on the part of this Com- 
monwealth, for ascertaining the boundary line between the 
same, and such the said state of Rhode Island. And the said 
commissioners are hereby authorized, and empowered, to meet 
such commissioners as may be appointed and invested with 
similar powers for the above purpose by the legislature of the 
state of Rhode Island, and, in conjunction with them, to ascer- 
tain, run, and mark such boundary line, upon the principles 
that have heretofore been agreed upon by commissioners from 
Great Britain, or by the respective legislatures of the late province 
of Massachusetts Bay, and the colony of Rhode Island and Provi- 
dence Plantations, for that purpose appointed, if those principles 
can now be ascertained; otherwise the said commissioners, on the 
part of this Commonwealth hereby appointed, are authorized 
to agree upon such principles, touching the running said line as, 
from the best documents they can obtain, may appear to them 
just and reasonable; which line, when so ascertained, shall 
forever afterwards be considered, and held, to be the true and just 
honiidary line o{ ]wx\s([\cX\oi\ between this Commonwealth and 
the state aforesaid." 



36 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

In 1791, at the May session, the legislature of Rhode Island 
passed an act in precisely the same terms. (See App. C.) 

In pursuance of the acts of their respective states, the com- 
missioners appointed under the same met, and entered into the 
following agreement : — 

" Wrentham, 17th of 8th month, called August, 1791. We, 
the commissioners appointed by the states of Massachusetts, and 
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, to ascertain and 
mark out the boundary lines between said states, having met 
at Wrentham, and conversed upon the several claims, do agree 
to begin to measure Charles River, and measure off three miles 
from the most southerly part, as claimed by Rhode Island, and 
described by a plan or draft, made by Joseph Harrison, one of the 
commissioners who ran said line in 1750; also to run off three 
miles south from such waters as the commissioners from Massa- 
chusetts may assign as, in their opinion, to be the most south- 
erly part of Charles River, making such monuments as may 
appear necessary, and that the same be laid before the respective 
states, as the bounds which, according to our several opinions, 
ought to divide the same agreeably to their respective charters. 
And we, being of different opinions, and therefore not able to 
setde the line, do also agree to recommend, to the said states, to 
submit the matter in dispute to indifferent men from the neigh- 
boring states, or to unite in an application to Congress, to settle 
the same agreeably to the respective charters, and the constitu- 
tion of the United States. 

" We also further agree to perambulate the line between the 
two states, and ascertain the bounds agreeably to the determin- 
ation of king and council, so far as from Bullock's Point east- 
ward, leaving the line from Pawtucket Falls to be run and 
settled, Avhen the north line is settled, agreeably to the within 
or foregoing agreement. 

Signed, Walter Spooner, 

Elisha May, 
David Cobb, 
Jabez Bowen, 
Moses Brown, 
William Bradford." 



1S48.] SENATE— No. 128. 37 

The commissioners, in accordance with their agreement, pro- 
ceeded to perambulate the line from Bullock's Neck to the 
ocean, but, not being able to agree upon the true line, they made 
reports to their respective legislatures, which will be found in 
the Appendix marked D. In 1801, 1810, 1818 and 1825, at- 
tempts were made, by the respective states, to settle the north 
line, which were unsuccessful. The next step in this contro- 
versy was taken by Rhode Island, by bringin;^ a bill in equity 
against Massachusetts, in the supreme court of the United 
States, on the 16th of March, 1832, praying for the settlement 
of her north line. 

I 1 January, 1844, Rhode Island passed a law for the preser- 
vation of oysters and other shell-fish, extending its operation to 
Fuller's Rocks in Providence or Seekonk River, which rocks are 
on the Massachusetts side of the river. 

The enactment of this law induced the passage of a resolve 
by the general court of Massachusetts, February 27, 1844, au- 
thorizing the appointment of commissioners to act in conjunc- 
tion with commissioners on the part of the state of Rhode 
Island, in ascertainin , or establishi ir, the true boundary line 
between the said states from Pawtucket Falls to Bullock's 
Neck. 

January 30, 1845, by resolves of the general court, the com- 
missioners, appointed under the resolve of 1844, were authorized 
to ascertain and establish the true boundary line between said 
states from the Atlantic ocean, north and northerly, to Burnt 
Swamp Corner. 

In 1846, April 10, by a resolution of the general court, the 
commissioners were authorized to erect suitable stone monu- 
ments, marked with the letters MASS., engraved on one side, 
and R. I., on the opposite side, at the prominent angles of the 
line, from the Atlantic to the north-west corner of the state of 
Rhode Island, and at such other points of the line as may sub- 
serve public convenience. 

Acting under the before-mentioned resolves, the commis- 
sioners on the part of this Commonwealth, to wit, Myron 
Lawrence, William Baylies and Johnson Gardner, in conjunc- 
tion with the commissioners on the part of Rhode Island, to 



38 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

wit, Stephen Branch, Alfred Bosworth, and R. B. Cranston, 
have, from time to time, been engaged in the performance of the 
duties assigned, and have made reports to their respective 
states. 

The first report of the commissioners on the part of this Com- 
monwealth was made on the 23d of January, 184G, and will be 
found in the legislative proceedings of that year. House Docu- 
ment No. 11. at which time the commissioners had perambu- 
lated the line, but had not agreed upon its location. 

In the winter of 184-5-6, the supreme court of the United 
States gave a decision upon the bill in equity, commenced by 
Rhode Island in relation to the north and south line, in favor of 
this Commonwealth, an ' thereupon the commissioners pro- 
ceeded to define and establish that boundary; and, as the juris- 
dictional line was in many places crooked, and in some places 
obscure and ill defined, they agreel upo i a straight ine from 
the reputed monuments at either en 1. A joint report of their 
doings was made, and by the respective commissioners sub- 
mitted to the consideration of their several governments. 

This report was made in January, 1847, and will be found in 
the legislative proceedings of that year. House Doc. 13. 

On the 28th of April, 1847, two of the commissioners, with 
those of Rhode Island, entered into the following agreement in 
relation to the eastwardly line of Rhode Island, 

" Commissionei's' Agreement. 

" The undersigned, commissioners appointed, by the states of 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island, to ascertain an J establish the 
true boundary line between the said states, from the Atlantic 
Ocean to the Burnt Swamp Corner, in Wrentham, namely — My- 
ron Lawrence and William Baylies, two of the commissioners ap- 
pointed on the part of Massachusetts, and Stephen Branch, Alfred 
Bosworth, and Robert B. Cranston, on the part of Rhode Island ; 
after viewing the premises, and a careful and deliberate exami- 
nation of the subject, do hereby determine and agree that the 
following described line is the true boun ^ary and jurisdiction 
line between the said states, from the Atlantic Ocean to the 



1848.] SENATE— ^o. 128. 39 

aforesaid Burnt Swamp Corner, and that the same 1 e, and is 
hereby, estabhshed as such, subject to the ratification of the 
legislatures of the said states respectively, — viz. : Beginning at 
the ocean at a point on the shore in a line with a rock on the 
land of Charles Manchester, called the Peaked Rock, and run- 
ning northerly to a stone monument on the ground near the 
house of J. Sanford, opposite Nanequacket ; thence northerly, 
to an angle on the easterly side ol Watuppa Pond; thence, 
across the said pond, to the two rocks on the westerly side of 
said pond and near thereto ; thence westerly, to the button- wood 
tree, in the village of Fall River ; thence, in a straight line, to 
the shore opposite Toweset ; thence, in a north u^esterly direc- 
tion, to a place called King's Rock; thence, continuing in a 
northwesterly direction, to a place called Munroe's Corner ; 
thence, southwesterly, to Bullock's Neck, on the southwest cor- 
ner thereof; and thence, on the easterly side of the river "that 
runne li towards Providence, higher called Seekonk," in the 
line of ordinary high-water mark, to Pawtucket Falls, Pro- 
vic/ec/, however, that the rights >. the owners or occupants of 
lands bordering on said river, on the easterly side thereof, are 
not hereby to be in any manner abridged or impaired, it being 
imderstood and agreed, that the said owners or occupants have, 
and shall continue to have, in the adjoining shores, flats, or 
marshes, all the rights of property, and all other rights, of every 
description, which appertain to riparian proprietors according to 
the common law of Massachusetts, said riparian rights to be 
enjoyed by said owners or occupants, respectively, in as full and 
ample a manner, and to the same extent, as the citizens of Mas- 
sachusetts now have and enjoy said riparian rights. And it is fur- 
ther agreed, that the rights of fishery, in said river, shall be en- 
joyed by the owners or occupants of the lands bordering on 
said river, in common with the citizens of Rhode Island, with- 
out being subject to any other regulations than such as shall 
apply, equally, to the said owners or occupants, and the citi- 
zens of Rhode Island. From Pawtucket Falls, at a point on 
the easterly side thereof, the line shall run northerly, along 
the centre of the river, to tiie point where a due south line, 
drawn from ' Burnt Swamp' Corner, meets the river; thence. 



40 BOUNDARY LIx\E. [April, 

in a due north line, to said ' Burnt Swamp' Corner, it being 
understood by the commissioners, parties hereto, that the line 
hereinbefore described is the same, or substantially the same, as 
the line delineated on the map of Massachusetts, made by Sim- 
eon Borden, and published, by order of the legislature of Mas- 
sachusetts, in the year 1846. And we, the said commissioners, 
further agree that, at a proper and convenient time, the location 
of said line shall be completed, in accordance with this agree- 
ment and the principles thereof, by the erection of such monu- 
ments thereon, and at such places as may be necessary to the 
distinct marking of said line, so that the same may never, here- 
after, be brought into dispute or question, to the disturbance of 
those friendly relations which ought to be preserved and cher- 
ished between the people of said states. 

" Done at Boston, in duplicate, this twenty-eighth day of 
April, in the year eighteen hundred and forty-seven. 

Myeon Lawrence, 
Wm. Baylies, 

Commissionei's of Massachuseiis. 

Stephen Branch, 
Alfred Bosworth, 
R. B. Cranston, 

Commissioners of Rhode Island. 

" N. B. Hon. Johnson Gardner, one of the commissioners of 
Massachusetts, was present at the execution of this agreement, 
and dissented therefrom." 

On the 13th of January, 1848, Messrs. Lawrence and Baylies 
submitted to his excellency the governor a joint detailed report 
of the line, as ascertained, established, and marked by them 
and the Rhode Island commissioners, as and for the true bound- 
ary line between the said States. 

They also, on the same day, submitted a further report, his- 
torical and argumentative, justifying and sustaining the line 
agreed upon. 



18-18.] SENATE— No. 128. 41 

On the same day, Mr. Gardner submitted to his excellency 
the governor a minority report, in which it is contended, that 
the line established by a majority of the joint commission, is i}ot 
the true line, and that its confirmation and ratification would be 
a compromise of the obvious and just rights of the Common- 
wealth. 

These reports, with their accompanying papers, were duly 
submitted to the legislature for final action, and will be found 
in the legislative proceedings of the present year, (Senate Doc. 
No. 14,) and were referred to this committee, for their exami- 
nation and report. 

The committee have thus far detailed the history of this 
question, accompanying it with such comments as, in their 
judgment, the question demanded, and they now proceeded to 
examine the line established by the commission, together with 
the reasons for its confirmation; and waiving, for the present, 
the claims of Massachusetts to the limits of Plymouth Charter, 
and supposing her bound by the decision of the commissioners 
of 1741, confirmed in 1746, we will take the line thus settled, 
as the boundary, to compare it with the one established by the 
agreement of April, 1847. 

Tracing the line of 1741 from the ocean to Burnt Swamp 
Corner, we find, that it was located from the bay opposite Sete- 
hawset, (Seaconet Point,) east and north-east, three miles, at 
H; from Naneqnacket, east and north-east, three miles, at G; 
from a point, four hundred and forty rods southward of the 
mouth of Fall River, at E; east, three miles, at F; thence, 
north-east from the north-east corner of Bristol Harbor, three 
miles, at or near D ; thence, from the north-easternmost part of 
the bay on the west side of Rumstick Neck, three miles, at C ; 
thence, from the south-west corner of Bullock's Neck, north- 
east, three miles, at B. The aforegoing measurements are 
defined to be, from high- water mark ; thence, along the east- 
ward side of the Providence and Seekonk River, to Pawtucket 
Falls; thence, by a meridian line, passing through the Paw- 
tucket Falls, to a point where it cuts the south boundary of 
Massachusetts. 

The line established by the joint commission, April 28, 1847, 
6 



42 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

is as follows: — Beginning at the ocean, opposite Setehawset 
(Seaconet Point,) it is located east and north-east, three miles 
and 206y^^^jjth rods ; from Nanequacket (G) east and north-east, 
three miles and 161 rods; from a point three hundred and fifty- 
one rods by the shore, southward of Fall River, at E; about 
three miles and 250 rods north-east from the north-east corner 
of Bristol Harbor, three miles TSjVoth rods, at or near D; from 
the north-easternmost part of the bay, on the west side of 
Rumstick Neck, three miles and 38y^^%th rods, at C; from the 
south-west corner of Bullock's Neck, three miles and 16 rods, 
at or near B; from Bullock's Neck to Pawtucket Falls, on the 
easterly side of the river, in the line of ordinary high water ; 
from Pawtucket Falls^ at a point on the easterly side thereof, the 
said line shall run northerly, along the centre of the river, to the 
point where a due so2ith line, drawn from Burnt Swamp Corner, 
meets the river ; thence, in a due north line, to Burnt Swamp 
Corner. 

The letters set down in the foregoing description correspond 
with those on the map of 1741. The numerals and italics 
show the encroachment upon Massachusetts. The admeasure- 
ments are as set down by Simeon Borden, in his report to 
the commissioners, and, as they affect the village of Fall River, 
may be thus compared with the award line of 1741. 

It should be stated, that there exists a difference of opinion, as 
to the location of the true mouth of Fall River, the remonstrants 
contending that the mouth of the river should be taken to be at 
the point where the fresh water falls into the salt-water river. 
The committee have not considered it necessary to offer an 
opinion upon this question, and will merely state the facts as 
they are presented. The admeasurement is taken from the 
supposed mouth of the river, on the line of the salt-water river, 
and, measuring by the shore to the agreed line, the distance is 
351 rods ; in a direct line, 270 rods ; from the mouth of the fresh- 
water river, 240 rods. By Mr. Borden's measurement by the 
shore, 440 rods is 360 in a direct line, and 330 from the mouth 
of the fresh-water river. The map of 1741 shows that the 
commissioners intended the measurement should be a straight 
line, and, if that should be adopted, Massachusetts would, by 
accepting Mr. Borden's point, as the mouth of Fall River, find 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 43 

the whole village of Fall River within her limits, which is 
severed in a very irregular manner, the line being established 
without regard to streets or dwellings; three dwellings, and one 
house of public worship being divided, and placed partly in two 
states by the agreed line. 

The territory lying between these lines is estimated to con- 
tain from six to seven thousand acres, and from two to three 
thousand inhabitants, the most of whom have been regarded as 
citizens of Rhode Island, and a large portion of the territory has 
been under her jurisdiction since 1746. The reason of this is 
found in the erroneous proceedings of her ex-parte commission- 
ers, in running the line after the award was confirmed ; and, to 
the indecent haste which was then exhibited, is to be traced 
all the difficulty which now exists, in determining the line of 
the royal commissioners. By the report of the Rhode Island 
commissioners, (1848, Senate Doc. 14,) it appears they ran the 
line between the then province and colony, and measured three 
miles from the bay, at the ocean, and erected a monument of 
stones near the sea. The distance of three miles from Nane- 
quacket is given, as having been found; and, on the west of a 
large pond, (Watuppa,) was a small oak, with two large rocks. 
They profess to have preserved the three-mile distances, from 
the points indicated on the commissioners' map, throughout the 
distance from the ocean to Uullock's Neck, and to have marked 
trees generally along the line. At the point near D, on the map, 
they erected a monument of stones. At the point southward of 
Fall River, they measured four hundred and forty rods from 
the mouth of Fall River, as the shore extendeth itself, and not 
by a straight line. No mention is made of the river below 
Patucket Falls, from which point to Burnt Swamp Corner, 
they ran a due north line, and erected a monument of stones, 
with a stake thereon. 

Whether from fraud or mistake, it is very certain that this 
line did not conform to the award ; and, from the perishable na- 
ture of the monuments referred to, and the fact that there were 
but k\y inhabitants along the line, and those, not necessarily 
interested in preserving the bounds, its true location is difficult 
to find. It appears, from a statement of Simeon Borden, House 



44 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

Document No. 11, 1846, that he knew of only three monuments 
upon the whole extent of the line — viz : that at Burnt Swamp 
Corner, King's Rock, and the rocks near Watuppa Ponds. Not- 
withstanding this uncertainty about the line run by the Rhode 
Island commissioners, there has been a practical jurisdictional 
line, in most places indefinite, and, at times, disregarded, but 
still a line, from necessity, separating, and practically defining, 
the territory and jurisdiction of the states. And this line of 
jurisdiction and reputation, was early perambulated by our 
commissioners, by the aid of Mr. Borden, who, in his report to 
them in 1840, states, that "every portion of the reputed divis- 
ion line between the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Burnt Swamp Corner, stands 
upon the soil properly belonging to Massachusetts, even after 
adopting the most liberal construction respecting the flowing of 
the tides up the little creeks and inlets." 

The north and south line between the states, was definitely 
settled by the decision of the supreme court of the United 
States, as will appear in the 4th vol. of Howard's Reports, 
page 591 ; and the only authority which was conferred on our 
commissioners, in regard to that portion of the line, was to set 
up suitable monuments thereon. The joint commissioners did, 
however, deem it of importance to make that line straight from 
certain monuments existing at the corners, by which an acces- 
sion of territory has been made to Massachusetts, without pro- 
ducing any serious inconvenience to the inhabitants along the 
line. This determination, it is believed, will be satisfactory to 
both states ; but its confirmation by Rhode Island is made to 
depend upon the confi^rmation by Massachusetts of the remain- 
der of the line. 

The committee entirely agree with the commissioners in the 
fact that a straight line is to be adopted, where it will produce 
no inconvenience to individuals, and to the exercise of juris- 
diction; and unhesitatingly approve of their doings upon the 
north and south line. Yet, the line of jurisdiction would have 
beenequally satisfactory, had it been insisted on by Rhode Island, 

In examining the doings of the commissioners upon the re- 
mainder of the line, we deem it proper to say, that the exchange 



]8/18.] SENATE— No. 128. 45 

of lands and inhabitants, from the ocean to Bullock's Neck, 
taking the reputed line as a standard, is against Massachusetts, 
and, as has been stated, is an niconvenient line as regards the 
village of Fall River, and one which it is not improbable may 
lead to a conflict of jurisdiction : indeed, a conflict of jurisdic- 
tion cannot well be avoided when a state line divides a village 
or city; but this line divides dwellings, and, from its course 
through that town, may divide many houses, which circum- 
stance may render the execution of the laws of either state 
difiicult and uncertain. If, however, this be the true line, and 
cannot be changed by negotiation, the evil must be borne. 
But, if it be not the true line, it should not be affirmed, or con- 
sented to. 

The preceding statement shows that neither the ex-parte line 
of Rhode Island commissioners, nor the agreed line of 1847, is 
the true boundary between the states, when tried by the judg- 
ment of the commissioners of 1741. In this opinion, we have 
the concurring judgment of the joint commission of 1791, 
and our own commissioners of 1845, together with the opinion 
of Mr. Borden, as before stated. 

The agreed line has, however, been established by a majority 
of the commission upon the ground that the possession and 
claim of Rhode Island to the reputed line, gave her an indefea- 
sible right thereto, when coupled with the acquiescence of Mas- 
sachusetts in such claim and possession: "that, whatever of 
error or wrong there had been in the commencement, had 
been done away by time ; that the line de facto, had become the 
line de jure, by the acquiescence of Massachusetts ; and that 
neither the commission of 1791, nor the proceedings under that 
commission, nor any variance between the existing or reputed 
line and the line of the royal commissioners of 1741, could 
materially affect the case, or change the principle of decision. 
The case of Rhode Island against Massachusetts, 14 Peters, 
210, is cited, as showing that a possession of more than one 
hundred years, was of itself a good and sufficient defence, and 
would be conclusive evidence of an assent to such possession, 
and a relinquishment of a counter claim. And the commissioners 
think that " a much shorter possession would be equally eff'ec- 



46 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

tual." And they quote Justice McLean, remarking upon the 
influence of time, and saying, that " fraud, which vitiates all 
human transactions, cannot be reached when covered by a 
great lapse of time." The commissioners also suppose the 
decision of the supreme court in the same case, 4 Howard 
591, to be an authority for the principles of their report. 

The committee have not been able to agree with the com- 
missioners in their supposed application of the decisions of the 
supreme court to the present question. The point decided in 
the 14 Peters, was upon the sufficiency of a plea, reciting ttco 
agreements and an unmolested possession in bar of the bill of 
Rhode Island. The court decided that the plea was multifari- 
ous, and that it must be overruled. And, in giving the decis- 
ion, the chief justice remarked, that the allegations in the plea 
would make the possession of more than one hundred years, a 
rightful one by prescription. But, whether those allegations 
were identical with the facts in this case, does not appear. It 
does appear, from the decision of the court, that the remarks 
were entirely collateral to the point raised, and are unnoticed by 
the reporter, in giving the decision of the case. The citation from 
the opinion of Justice McLean, is liable to the same objec- 
tion, and the remarks are not applied by him to a case of pre- 
scription or adverse possession. He is speaking of the agree- 
ment of 1710 and 1718, between the states which had been 
specially sanctioned by Rhode Island, and adds : — "Is time to 
have no influence in this case upon the agreements of the 
parlies? It covers, with its peaceful mantle, stale disputes be- 
tween individuals. And so strong is its influence, that fraud, 
which vitiates all human transactions, cannot be reached when 
covered by great lapse of time." Such general remarks are not 
uncommon in books of reports. They frequently evidence the 
law, but are never regarded as authority by the court from 
which they proceed, and are believed to be entirely controlled 
by the admitted doctrines in regard to legal presumptions and 
prescription. 

A construction is given by the commissioners, to the case in 
4 Howard 591, with which the committee have not been able 
to accord. Upon a careful perusal of the case, it will, we 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 47 

think, be found to have been decided on the compromise of the 
parties. It is true that the lapse of time, as is spoken of by the 
court, is not an immaterial circumstance, but it is believed that 
it had no influence in the decision, for the chief justice, in the 
14th Peters, says, when speaking of the agreements: "assu- 
ming that the plea and answer are true in all these statements, 
(the agreements of 1710 and 1718,) then an award and com- 
promise is established, which was obligatory upon the parties, 
from the moment it was finally ratified. And, taking every 
thing averred by the defendant on this point, to be correct, 
Rhode Island would have been as efl'ectually barred, as she is 
at the present moment, if she had commenced this controversy 
within a month after the award was made." It would seem 
that nothing more is needed, in order to show that the agree- 
ments of the states are entirely sufficient to warrant the final 
decision of the court. 

To aid the formation of a correct opinion upon that part of the 
majority report, which is based upon the possession of Rhode 
Island, we beg leave to refer to some of the principles which 
seem sanctioned by judicial exposition in relation to presump- 
tions of grant and prescription^ together with citations from 
elementary writers upon prescription and usucaption among 
states. 

A grant of land will never be presumed from mere lapse of 
time, unless it be so great as to create the belief that it was 
actually made. (Mathers on Pre. and cases cited.) 

Presumption of a grant arising from a lapse of time may be 
encountered and rebutted by contrary presumptions, and can 
never arise when all the circumstances are entirely consistent 
with the non-existence of a grant. A fortiori^ they cannot arise 
when the claim is of such a nature as is at variance with the 
supposition of a grant. (4 Greenl., 508, — C. and Hill's Notes 
to Phil. Ev., part 1, 364.) 

Presumption of a grant is founded upon the consideration, 
that the facts are such as could not, according to the ordinary 
course of human affairs, occur, unless there was a transmission 
of title to, or an admission of an existing adverse title in, the 
party in possession. They may, therefore, be accounted for, 



4S BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

and rebutted, by contrary presumptions ; and can never fairly 
arise, when all the circumstances are perfectly consistent with 
the non-existence of a grant. (7 Wheaton, 59.) 

And evidence which explains the possession, and shows that 
it originated by mistake, or license, or in any other manner 
than on a claim of right, will rebut the presumption. (5 T. R. 
Rep. 296.-2 Saund. Notes A and B, 175, cited in 3 East, 294.) 

Prescription is defined to be a title taking its substance of 
use and time allowed by law. (2 Coke Inst. 189.) 

Prescription must always have a legal origin. And, like a 
custom, must be certain and reasonable. And cannot be al- 
leged against an act of parliament. (Crabb's Law of Real 
Property, 680, cites 1 Dougl., 119, 1 Inst. 13.) 

And whatever arises from record, cannot be claimed by pre- 
scription ; the law allowing it only to supply the loss of a 
grant. Therefore, every prescription presupposes a grant to 
have existed. (Black, vol. 2 — 264, and cases cited ) 

The incidents of prescription are — 

1. Possession or usage, and — 

2. Time. (Inst. 2, vol. 189.) 

1. Possession must be long continued and peaceful. In 
other words, uninterrupted and adverse. (Ibid.) 

2. The time was formerly held to be beyond legal memory, 
viz. — before Richard I. 

In 9 Pick., 254, the court say the occupation must be unin- 
terrupted by the owner of the land, — it must be really adverse, 
and not by permission, license, or indulgence, of the owner; 
and under a claim of right, with the acquiescence and knowl- 
edge of the owner. And these ingredients may be disproved 
by evidence, as that it had been under loan and favor, or courte- 
sy, and at the will of the owner, &c., and so not adverse. 

And where there has been an agreed line variant from the 
true one for convenience, and the true line still claimed, neither 
party acquires a right of property or possession, even by reason 
of the agreed line. (11 — Mass. 297.) 

Prescription, in the ancient sense of the word, is founded 
upon the supposition of a grant ; and, therefore, the use or pos- 
session on which it is founded, must be adverse, or of a nature 



184S.] SENATE— No. 128. 49 

to indicate that it is claimed as a right, and not the effect of in- 
dulgence or of any compact short of a grant. (14 Mass. 53 ; 
see 3 Kent, 443.) 

In addition to the decisions above cited, the general princi- 
ples of the law have been examined, explained and applied, in 
3 Taunton, 99; 5 Term R., 296; 3 Dane's Abr., 252; 1 Phil. 
Ev., 117, 120, 125; 1 Green., Ill ; 4 Pick., 222 ; 3 Barn, and 
Creswell, 332 ; 2 Brod. and Bing., 667; 3 Barn., 419; 3 Kent, 
356-7; 6 East, 215; 2 Barn, and Cress., 686; 3 Green., 120. 

The desertion of a right, it has been judicially observed, 
always supposes a knowledge of it. It is absurd to say that a 
man has relinquisUed a right, the existence of which he was 
not aware of. (Mathews on Pre., 17-18, and cases cited.) 

No length of time will raise a presumption in favor of en- 
croachments upon the public, at least no period has as yet been 
mentioned, as binding the community. (4 Burr, 2163 ; 7 East, 
199.) 

Statutes of limitation cannot apply to the case of two states. 
(Best on Pre., 75.) 

Speaking of title by possession among nations, Vattel, book 2, 
ch. 11, says: "It is a celebrated question, on which the learned 
are much divided, Avhether usucaption and prescription can take 
place between independent nations and states." Prescription is 
the exclusion of all pretensions to a right, an exclusion founded 
on the length of time during which that right has been neg- 
lected; or, according to Wolf's definition, it is the loss of an 
inherent right by virtue of a presumed consent. 

This writer decides that prescription is established by the vol- 
untary law of nations, and has its foundation in the law of na- 
ture itself; but says it is impossible to determine, by the law 
of nature, the number of years required to found a prescrip- 
tion. 

Again, he says, "Prescription cannot be grounded on any but 
an absolute or lawful presumption. It has no foundation if the 
proprietor has not really neglected his right, and, when a per- 
son has lawful and substantial reasons for silence, there is no 
room for a presumption that he has abandoned his right." 

We think it fairly deducible, from the foregoing authorities, — 
7 



50 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

1. That the title by prescription is held, by elementary 
writers, to be a part of the law of nations. 

2. That the extent of time necessary to establish a title by 
prescription between States has not been settled. 

3. That time will not bar a claimant, when he has just, 
lawful, and substantial reasons for his silence under an adverse 
claim. 

4. That, when the possession can be shown not to have had 
a legal origin, a title by prescription for such possession cannot 
be set up between States, unless it be shown, conclusively, that 
the party, with knowledge of the right, had abandoned it. 

5. That prescription cannot be claimed, when the posses- 
sion has been by license, permission, indulgence, favor, or 
courtesy. 

6. That prescription cannot be claimed against a record. 

7. That an act of the legislature will bar prescription, 
whether it be taken as notice of a claim, or as an admission 
that the possession is not adverse. 

Under the belief that the foregoing are the rules by which 
this question must be decided, we will state the historical facts 
connected with the subject, in their order of occurrence, so that 
the exact nature of the possession may be ascertained, and its 
effect determined. And as, under the view we take of the sub- 
ject, the question of the effect of time is not very important, we 
will merely say, that, in fixing the time of prescription between 
States, there are many considerations which will, in the judg- 
ment of the committee, render it necessary to extend that time 
beyond the limit fixed in the municipal law of the country, as 
it operates on individual claims. But the rule, when settled, 
must be an arbitrary one, and we do not presume to offer an 
opinion as to what may hereafter be adjudged the proper time 
at which a State may perfect a wrongful possession into an 
absolute title. Leaving that point to be settled, when it shall 
necessarily arise, we proceed to show the situation of Massa- 
chusetts, from 1746 to 1791, the time when the joint legislation 
of the States, upon this subject, commences. 

From 1744 to 1748, the war which succeeded the treaty of 
Utrecht, raged in Europe and America, and during the four 



1S48.] SENATE— No. 128. 51 

years of its continuance, Massachusetts was actively engaged 
in its prosecution. In 1745, she had upwards of 3,000 men at 
Louisburgh; was engaged in the invasion of Canada, and, 
upon the failure of the enterprise, she furnished 1,500 men for 
an expedition to Crown Point, and 600, to protect Acadia from 
an expected attack by the French and Indians. These troops 
were disbanded in 1747, in which year the province was dis- 
turbed by riots growing out of the impressment of her citizens 
by British officers. Peace was restored in 174S, and the settle- 
ment of the expenses of the war claimed her attention. This 
was effected in 1749, and, the same year, her eastern frontier 
was menaced by Indians. A body of about 500 men were kept 
in service until October, when a treaty was agreed upon by the 
parties. Complaints for her disregard of the commercial regu- 
lations next followed. In 1750, she was called upon for more 
troops for the defence of Nova Scotia, and, in 1751, her eastern 
frontiers were again attacked. 

From this time to 1754, the apprehension of war was con- 
tinual, and 500 men were under arms. Fortifications were 
erected; and, the same year, a convention (proposed by Mas- 
sachusetts) was held at Albany, for the purpose of provid- 
ing for the defence of the colonies, by a union of the whole, 
from New Hampshire to South Carolina. In May, 1755, Mas- 
sachusetts sent 2,000 men, to complete the conquest of Nova 
Scotia, and, the same year, an equal number, for the reduction 
of Crown Point. In 1756, she raised 3,000 men for the same 
purpose, and, on the fall of Oswego, 1,000 men were drafted for 
the war. In 1757, she made a further enlistment of 1,800 men, 
and her expenses caused great embarrassment. A dispute with 
the British government, in relation to the quartering of troops, 
succeeded these levies, which was finally settled, and, in 1758, 
she raised 7,000 men, — by enlistment and draft, — for that cam- 
paign, who marched, under Abercrombie, to Ticonderoga. In 
1759, she raised 6,500 men for the conquest of Canada. In 
January, 1760, the general court voted to raise 5,000 men, but, 
so great had been the exertions of the province during the pre- 
vious years, that but 3,500 could be enlisted. The loss of men, 
during the previous five years, was estimated at 5 or 6,000. 



52 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

In 1761, a force of 3,000 men was maintained, as no treaty of 
peace had been concluded. 

The contest in relation to the writs of assistance was carried 
on in 1762. The policy of taxing the colonics, by the British 
Government, was promulgated in 1763, and the succeeding year 
the plan was brought forward in parliament. It was resolutely 
opposed in Massachusetts, who claimed the right of making 
laws, and assessing taxes, for themselves. The Stamp Act 
passed in 1765. Massachusetts proposed a general convention 
at New York, " to consult for the liberty and safety of the peo- 
ple in this alarming crisis," which met in October. During the 
summer the people were much excited upon the subject, and 
various riots occurred. The governor considered the province 
on the "brink of a precipice." The house replied, that the 
people were awake to their danger, and declined to enforce the 
use of stamps ; and while, in words, they declined to question 
the power of parliament, they asserted their constitutional priv- 
ileges and their inalienable rights; claimed to " have inherited 
the highest relish for civil liberty ;" pronounced the power of 
taxation, without consent, to be despotic; and declared, that 
" all laws, made by any power whatever, other than the gen- 
eral assembly of the province, imposing taxes on the inhabit- 
ants, were infringements of their inherent and inalienable 
rights." In the mean time, the courts of law were closed, the 
stamps were refused a landing, and the house demanded that 
the courts should sit, without noticing the Stamp Act. In 1766, 
the Stamp Act was repealed, but the right to tax the colonies 
was insisted on in the repeal, and the controversy with the 
mother country continued. The colony pleaded for the sole 
and exclusive right of legislation. Further duties were levied 
on articles imported into the province. The merchants united 
in an agreement to cease importations. In the fall of 1767, 
British troops arrived in Boston, and the discontents of the 
province increased, while the house, in their answers to the 
messages of the governor, indicated a determination to maintain 
the rights of the people, in opposition to the acts of parliament, 
significantly observing, " that they must form their own judg- 
ment of an indiscreet use of legal poiccrJ' 



184S.] SENATE— No. 128. 53 

In 1768, a petition was sent to the king, upon the present 
discontents. A circular was transmitted to the several colonies, 
calling their attention to the oppressive acts of parliament, and 
asking their views on the topics regarding the liberty and wel- 
fare of the colonies. The governor called on the House to re- 
scind the circular; the House refused, and he dissolved the 
court. 

The excitement continuing, a convention was held in Boston, 
which urged the governor to call a general court. The request 
was disregarded. After passing proper remonstrances against 
the measures of parliament, and urging the people to refrain 
from acts of violence, the convention dissolved, and, on the 
same day, two British regiments arrived in Boston. 

In 1769, writs were issued for a choice of representatives. 
The assembly met and requested the removal of the troops, 
consisting of four regiments. The governor replied that he 
had no authority to order the removal. A portion of them 
were quartered around the State House. The House protested 
three times against the location of the troops ; refused to pro- 
vide barracks for them ; petitioned the crown for the recall of 
the governor, and were, by him, prorogued to January, 1770. 

Frequent disputes arose between the citizens of Boston and 
the soldiers. In March, 1770, they fired upon the citizens. 
The assembly did not meet till March, it having been again 
prorogued. Upon its assembling at Cambridge, the disputes 
revived. A speaker, chosen by the House, was rejected ; and, 
contrary to the wishes of the House, it was ordered to meet 
again at Cambridge, in May. This controversy about holding 
the court out of Boston, continued for two years. In the sum- 
mer, Castle Island was surrendered to the commander of the 
British troops. 

In 1772, the General Court was permitted to meet in Boston. 
A contest immediately arose in relation to the governor's and 
judges' salary; and the discussion of the claims of the British 
government continued to be carried on with increased acrimony. 

In 1773, another circular on political subjects was addressed 
to the colonies, which hastened the congress at Philadelphia, in 



54 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

1774. The House resolved that they were the sole judges of 
their duty. 

An importation of tea took place in the autumn. Public 
meetings were held to prevent its being landed, and, no satisfac- 
tory arrangements being made with the people upon the subject, 
it was forcibly destroyed. 

In June, 1774, the governor left the province — General Gage 
was appointed his successor. The port of Boston was closed 
on the first of the month. The citizens voted to recommend, 
to the other colonies, to refuse all commercial intercourse with 
England. Public meetings were held in the various towns of 
the Commonwealth. Grand jurors refused to serve under the 
chief justice. The general court was again removed from Bos- 
ton, and, soon after its meeting at Salem, dissolved by order of 
the governor. His secretary was, however, refused admittance 
to the assembly, which did not separate until it had chosen 
members to the congress, at Philadelphia. 

Fortifications on the Neck, to guard the entrance into Boston, 
were erected in the fall. A large quantity of military stores 
arrived at Boston; gunpowder, belonging to individuals, was 
seized; and other precautions were taken, to deprive the prov- 
ince of the means of resistance. 

On the other hand, conventions of the people were held at 
Salem and Concord. Means were taken to ascertain the quan- 
tity of arms, cannon, and powder, in the province, and to en- 
courage military discipline. The payment of the taxes to the 
treasurer of the province was prohibited; anew one chosen; 
and a commitee of safety appointed to serve until a provincial 
congress should be held. It met in February, 1775, and made 
active preparations for the impending struggle ; appealed to the 
people to act with firmness, if attacked, and, transacting other 
necessary business, adjourned to March 22d. 

An attempt to seize the provincial stores at Danvers, by the 
British, failed, owing to the firmness of the colonists, without 
bloodshed; while a similar attempt at Concord, on the 19th of 
April, brought on the war, which continued till 1783. 

In 1779, at the particular call of Congress, upon the subject 
of boundaries, Massachusetts asserted her claim to all the land 



1818.] SENATE— No. 128. 55 

" lying within the known and recognized limits of Plymouth 
charter." 

The return of peace found Massachusetts exhausted by her 
efforts during the war. Her finances were embarrassed ; a large 
debt was to be provided for, and the public credit sustained. 
In their efforts to sustain the state through the crisis of the Rev- 
olution, her people had neglected their private debts to enable 
them to pay the taxes called for by the necessities of the Union. 
The efforts of creditors, to enforce the collection of debts, were 
violently resisted. In some counties, the courts could not pro- 
ceed with their usual business. Unlawful meetings were hold- 
en in many counties. The militia were frequently called out to 
support the civil power. 

An insurrection finally broke out, which rapidly spreading 
itself, in a short time, one half the state was in open rebellion, 
and in arms against the government. The insurgents were, 
however, dispersed, and their leaders arrested. This was in 
the winter of 1787. The controversy between Massachusetts 
and New York, in relation to lands west of the Hudson River, 
was settled in 1786, after having been referred to congress in 
1784. 

The formation of the federal constitution during this period, 
claimed the attention of Massachusetts, as well as that of the 
confederacy. The form of government was finally agreed 
upon, and in 1788, a convention assembled to consider its pro- 
visions. It was ratified by Massachusetts, and the federal gov- 
ernment organized, in 1789. During this year, the state was 
occupied in arranging her claims growing out of the expenses 
of the war, and procuring their adjustment by congress, and 
also in adopting her government, and mode of procedure, to 
conform to the new position in which she was placed by the 
operation of the federal government. 

In 1791, Massachusetts and Rhode Island passed the acts al- 
ready recited and referred to, in relation to the boundary, and 
entered into the before-mentioned agreement of the same year. 
The arrangement having been made to defer the settlement of 
the eastern line until the north and south line should be settled, 
attempts were made by both states to effect a settlement of that 



56 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

line, as will be seen by their respective doings in the years JSOl, 
1810, 1818, and again in 1821; all these attempts failing to 
produce a satisfactory arrangement of that line, a process was 
commenced, as before stated, in 1832, which ended in a settle- 
ment of that question in 1846. 

The enumeration of the acts of Massachusetts, from 1746 to 
1775, has been made rather to show the nature, than the ex- 
tent, of her engagements. Up to the year 1762, she was nearly 
all the time involved in a war, — in a war which she did not 
declare nor provoke, but one maintained for the honor of the 
mother-country, in which the energies of Massachusetts were 
strained so far, for the furnishing of both men and money for 
its prosecution, that she was, in the last years of its duration, 
compelled to use force in order to fill up her regiments; and the 
return of peace foimd her treasury well-nigh bankrupt. 

Whilst suffering under the exhaustion which her great ex- 
penditure had produced, and experiencing the evils attendant up- 
on a transition from a state of war to that of peace, she found her- 
self called upon to resist the encroachments of a power to which 
hitherto she had yielded an active, ready, and efficient support, 
and was presented with the alternative of an unqualified sub- 
mission to the British Parliament, or to hazard her chartered 
rights in a contest with the most formidable nation upon the 
globe. 

Massachusetts never hesitated in the course to be adopted ; 
and, with characteristic prudence and energy, she entered into 
the controversy, and while, by her caution and her skill, she 
succeeded in effectually resisting all the efforts of Britain to 
place her in the wrong, she also, by a just and conciliatory de- 
portment, allayed the envy of her sister-colonies, while, at the 
same time, she roused them to a sense of their danger as she 
watched over her own. It was owing to the determined and 
prudent policy of Massachusetts, during the whole controversy, 
that she found herself, when first attacked, able to contend suc- 
cessfully with her powerful adversary, and to engage at once 
the whole country in the contest, — thereby making the war as 
universal, as it had become desirable. 

It was necessary to recur to the difficulties of the province, dur- 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 57 

ing this period, in order to determine whether the situation of 
Massachusetts was such, from 1746 to 1775, as to authorize her 
now to say that she had just, lawful, and substantial reasons 
for neglecting to make a claim for the territory included within 
the limits of the Rhode Island commissioners, by the survey, as 
repoit d to their legislature. 

There is no question, in the judgment of the committee, that 
a state of war affords a sufficient reason for such neglect, and 
war, in effect, existed until 1762. 

The rule allowing war to justify a neglect to claim territo- 
ry, withheld from a belligerent party during its continuance, is 
founded upon the principle of self-preservation ; and, in the 
absence of any positive rule upon the subject, a reasonable and 
proper deference will be paid to her determinations and con- 
duct. And in a case divested of all fraud or appearance of op- 
pression, her declared intentions would be examined with liber- 
ality. So, too, her own convictions of danger, if not entirely il- 
lusory, would be regarded as honestly entertained, and as avail- 
able for her excuse and justification, in a case where actual dan- 
ger might be pleaded. 

Does the situation of Massachusetts from 1762 to 1775, afford 
a like reason for its silence 7 From 1763, to the commencement 
of the revolutionary war, was one of more difficulty and dan- 
ger, than during the previous hostilities. The controversy with 
Great Britain was carried on whilst her capital was occu- 
pied by armed troops ; and it was under such attempted intim- 
idation, that she was compelled to frame, and mature, the prin- 
ciples of civil liberty, which formed the basis of the struggle 
between the colonies and the mother country. 

In the wars from 1746 to 1762, in the controversy with 
Great Britain, and in the revolutionary contest which succeeded, 
Rhode Island, as well as Massachusetts, was deeply engaged; 
and not only can Massachusetts offer a just and lawful excuse 
for not making the claim of territory during that time on ac- 
count of her own paramount engagements, but she is justified in 
her silence by the fact, that her forbearance, under the circum- 
stances, was due to Rhode Island herself. 

The period from the peace of 1783, to 1789, when the federal 
8 



58 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

government was put into operation, was full of difficulties for all 
the colonies. Those of Massachusetts have been alluded to, and 
they show enough of peril, and danger, to absorb all her care 
and attention. After this event had happened, the situation of 
the States was changed. Massachusetts was in the Union, and 
could make no treaty, nor enter into any agreement or compact, 
with another state, or with a foreign power ; and, until Rhode 
Island decided whether she would join her sister states, it was 
impossible to determine the mode by which any arrangement of 
this claim could be effected. She, however, ratified the consti- 
tution, and gave notice thereof to Congress, on the 16th of June, 
1790; and, at the session of the Legislature of Massachusetts, 
held in January following, the act of 1791, already recited, was 
passed ; which was followed by a similar act, passed by Rhode 
Island, in May, of the same year. The committee are of opin- 
ion, that the situation of both states, from the close of the rev- 
olutionary war to 1791, was such as affords just, lawful, and 
substantial reason, for the delay shown by Massachusetts in 
making her claim. And of this opinion were both the states; 
for the acts of 1791 not only admit the line to be uncertain, but 
declare a willingness to settle the same, and avow the title to 
stand upon the award of commissioners from Great Britain. It 
is apparent that the claim of Rhode Island to the line of the ex- 
parte commissioners of 1746, has no legal origin ; that Massa- 
chusetts has never acquiesced in it; and that the solemn acts of 
both states suppose it to be erroneous, and agree upon the prin- 
ciples by which the true boundary should be determined. 

These acts qualify and explain the present possession of 
Rhode Island ; and show that, instead of its being adverse, 
it is held by license, and with an admission that the adjudicated 
charter-line determines the rights of the parties. It was in ev- 
idence, at the hearing, that the line of 1741 could be run with- 
out difficulty ; and the line of 1664 is by the Narragansett wa- 
ters. It will be necessary, then, only to ascertain the true con- 
struction of the acts of 1791, in order to determine which line 
shall be adopted. Both acts say that the boundary line shall 
be ascertained, run, and marked, ^^upon the principles that have 
heretofore been agreed upon by commissioners from Great Brit- 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 59 

am, or by the respective legislatures of the^^ then states. No 
principles had been agreed upon by the governments themselves, 
and the only act by either, known to the committee, is the re- 
solve of Massachusetts, in 1779. If the word, "from," is to 
have its common and literal signification in the sentence, then, 
it will follow, that the line settled by Carr and others, in 
1664, to wit, the waters of the Naraganzetts, must be taken to 
be the true boundary, as those were the only commissioners 
from Great Britain who ever agreed upon the principles of the 
line, or made any adjudication thereon. The commissioners of 
1741, it will be remembered, resided in the colonies. 

The majority report of our commissioners views the pro- 
ceedings of 1791, as depending mainly upon the agreement, and 
takes the position that, inasmuch as the north line was not settled 
in accordance with its provisions, the easterly line, which is 
termed, in the report, the dependent line, is entirely unaffected 
by the transactions of that year, and nothing has thereby trans- 
pired to weaken the possession of Rhode Island, or prevent 
that possession from ripening into a perfect title by prescription. 
We have not been able to take the same view of the subject. 
In our judgment, the acts of the two legislatures define the po- 
sitions, and settle the right of the parties; and which could 
not be changed by the appointment or the non-appointment of 
commissioners under them. Nor could the doings of the com- 
misioners vary these rights without the express assent of their 
respective legislatures ; and no such assent is pretended. The 
fact that the states were unable to agree upon the north line in 
the mode recommended by the commissioners was not supposed 
by Rhode Island to affect her rights, and we do not see how 
that same circumstance can injure the just claim of Massachu- 
setts. 

The report of the commissioners of that year, to both states, 
shows that Rhode Island had, by her line of 1746, encroached 
upon the line of 1741 ; and such encroachment, the states had 
agreed, was erroneJous, and then fixed upon the principles by 
which it should be corrected. The commissioners say, in their 
agreement, that they will "ascertain the bounds, agreeably to 
the determination of the king and council, so far as from Bui- 



60 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

lock's Point, eastward, leaving the line from Pawtucket Falls 
to be run and settled when the north line is settled, agreeably to 
the within or foregoing agreement." The committee think that 
this agreement was intended by the commissioners to waive the 
possession on the eastern line, and. if it were competent for 
them to suspend the legal effect and operation of the pos- 
session, they did so in terms. If there be any reason to sup- 
pose that the possession was not waived by this agreement, it 
will be found in the fact that the states themselves had legis- 
lated upon the question, and, by their highest official act, had 
done in advance what the commissioners, acting under their 
appointment, intended in their agreement to do. In this view 
of the case, it is quite immaterial whether the recommendation 
of the commissioners was, or was not, acted upon. The agree- 
ment itself is of importance only as affording a reason for the 
delay of the parties in adjusting the eastern line ; and, if the 
mode of settling the north line was not adopted, both parties 
have delayed the settlement of the eastern line, to await the 
adjustment of the one deemed, by our commissioners, of the 
greatest importance. 

It appears, by the commissioners' agreement, April 28, 1847, 
that the line from Bullock's Neck to Pawtucket Falls, is de- 
fined to be on the easterly side of the river in the line of " or- 
dinary high-water mark." The charter of Plymouth Colony 
gave the line of the centre of the river. The Rhode Island 
charter of 1663, calls for the " eastwardly side or bank of said 
river ;" whilst the judgment of the commissioners of 1741, 
describes the line as ^^ along the eastward side of Scekonk Riv- 
er." A construction is unnecessary to determine the meaning 
of the first description. It speaks for itself. With regard to 
the description given in the Rhode Island charter, and in the 
judgment of the commissioners of 1741, the committee have 
endeavored to ascertain if there was any legal difference in the 
words used, — to wit, — whether the introduction of the word 
" bank," in the charter, extends the bounds of Rhode Island 
eastward of low-water mark. 

In common understanding, a river is a volume of water, 
falling from a higher to a lower level, confined in its bed by 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 61 

two sides, banks, or shores. It is, however, liable to inunda- 
tions by excessive rains, by melting of snows, and other causes. 
At such times, the inundations spread out beyond the sides of 
the river, and cover adjacent fields. 

Almost all rivers, where they fall into the sea, are liable to 
two daily inundations from the flux, and reflux, of the tides of 
the ocean. These are more or less extended beyond the sides 
of the river, depending mainly upon the condition of the land 
forming its natural shore or boundary. By the sides of a river, 
we understand the edges of the river in its ordinary volume of 
water, unaflected by inundations arising from the rushing of 
water down its stream, or the flowing of the ocean-water up its 
stream. In both cases, the waters of the river are buried up by 
the inundation, and the shores or banks of the same are cov- 
ered, alike, by both causes. When these inundations subside, 
the river appears in its natural bed, with its sides and shores 
distinctly marked, but having, also, its line of inundation, or 
high-water, distinct and visible, and at a point above that of the 
natural edge of the river, which said line of high-water is made 
by the waters of the ocean, or of the inundation. The land 
lying between the high and low water line, is the shore of the 
river, and it holds that name to the line of the natural stream, 
which runs to the ocean, and, at that point, forms its side. 

In bounding Rhode Island on the eastwardly side of the river, 
such boundary nmst stop, when it first reaches a point that will 
answer the description, and we think it clear, that such point 
is found at the side of the river, at low-water mark. And in 
this opinion, we are supported by the authorities which fol- 
low : — 

Vattel says, that, in a case of doubt, every country which lies 
on a river, is presumed to have no other boundary than the 
river itself. 

In the case of Handley's Lessee v. Anthony, it is said that 
" where one state is the original proprietor, and grants the ter- 
ritory on one side only, it retains the river. But such rive?- is 
the bounds of the newly created state." 

" In a river, where there was a regular ebbing and flowing 
of the tide, it could not be doubted, that a country, bounded by 



62 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

the river, would extend to the low-water mark. This rule has 
been established by the common consent of mankind. It is 
founded on common convenience. Wherever the river is a 
boundary between states, it is the main, the permanent river, 
which constitutes the boundary ; and the mind will find itself 
embarrassed with insurmountable difficulty in attempting to 
draw any other line than the low-water mark." 

This case arose upon the cession, by the state of Virginia, to 
the United States, of the north-western territory, by the words, 
" all right, title, and claim, which the said Commonwealth had 
to territory north-west of the river Ohio." 

A claim was made to a tract of land separated from Indiana 
by the Ohio, at ordinary high water, but the passage to which, 
at low water, was left bare. The court limited the boundary 
of Kentucky to low water. And this appears to be a decision 
directly in point, taking the words of the judgment as obliga- 
tory upon both parties. 

We have not found any judicial decision, defining the exact 
meaning of the words " shore," and " bank," when standing by 
themselves. The court, in the above case, in speaking of the 
compact between Virginia and Kentucky, where the words, 
" opposite shores of the said river," are used, say, " this term 
seems but a repetition of the same idea under which the 
cession was made. The shores of a river border on the water's 
edge." And we find that the words " bank and shore," have 
synonymous meanings in the English and French language. 

But, supposing that the word "bank," when standing alone, 
might mean something diff'erent from the water's edge or side of 
the water ; yet its connection in the Rhode Island charter, 
with the words " eastwardly side " of the river, shows that 
it was not intended to vary the construction, which would by 
law be given to the words, "eastwardly side" of the river. And 
of this opinion were the commissioners of 1741, who, with the 
charter before them, omit the word "bank" from their judgment, 
and retain only the words, "eastwardly side." 

The report of the majority supposes that it was the in- 
tention of the commissioners of 1741, to establish the Rhode 
Island charter line, and, in describing it, to use words equiva- 



1S48.] SENATE— No. 128. 63 

lent to those in the charter. Admitting this to be so, there is 
no evidence to beheve that they construed the charter to extend 
beyond low-water mark, although it contained the word 
"bank," and it might as well be supposed that they formed the 
one opinion, as the other. It is certain, however, that, when 
they intended to adopt "high-water mark," as a measurement, 
from Bullock's Neck to the ocean, they say so in terms, and it 
would not be a forced construction, to suppose that they in- 
serted those words wherever they adopted their meaning. Bat, 
however this may be, the judgment of the court is definite, and 
certain; and, by the settled laws, fixes the line from Bullock's 
Neck to Pawtucket Falls, at low-water mark. If this judg- 
ment be not adhered to, then the parties are, (without the aid of 
the acts of 1791,) upon their charter lines; unless the right so to 
hold has been lost by prescription. The principles of law ap- 
plicable to prescription, which have heretofore been examined, 
arc applicable here ; with this important difference, however, 
that here, Rhode Island has no such possession as will counte- 
nance prescription. 

The evidence of the possession of Rhode Island upon this 
part of the line, is found in the charters granted to two corpora- 
tions for the erection of toll-bridges ; in the holding of inquests 
east of low-water mark ; and in the understanding of the health 
officer of the city of Providence, that his jurisdiction extended 
to high-water mark. 

It was in evidence before us, that there was a large amount 
of property, consisting of flats, wharves, and store-houses, upon 
this line, on the east of the river, and that the deeds of this 
property were recorded in the registry of deeds, of Bristol 
county, by Massachusetts ; that the same, including Bucklin's Isl- 
and, had already been taxed in Massachusetts, and that no at- 
tempt had been made to tax the same, or assume any exclusive 
jurisdiction over any part of it, by Rhode Island, until the pas- 
sage of the law for the protection of shell-fish, in 1844. 

Upon the subject of inquests, it also appeared that the officers 
of Massachusetts had exercised jurisdiction upon bodies found 
in the river; and there was evidence that a Rhode Island officer 
had been applied to, to take jurisdiction in a case where the body 



64 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

was found on the easterly side of the channel, and of his refu- 
sal to act. The whole testimony upon this question, was not 
very exact; and the committee were led to believe, that the 
course had been, for a Rhode Island officer to take jurisdiction in 
cases when the deceased had been a citizen of Rhode Island, 
and a similar course had been adopted by the officers in 
Seekonk. 

The incorporation of the bridges, we think, has but little 
bearing upon the question. Their construction was matter of 
necessity and convenience, and particularly so to Rhode Island. 
Providence is the chief town in that vicinity, and attracts to 
herself much of the trade of the surrounding country. As 
Rhode Island would be benefited by opening avenues to Provi- 
dence, she would naturally exercise all her powers for that end. 
Since 1746, she has claimed to the eastward side of the river, 
(subject to provisions of the act of 1791.) She would, there- 
fore, under that claim, come to low-water mark, and could 
always arrange for a continuation of the structure to some 
highway. One contract, touching such an arrangement, was 
proved, but there was no evidence as to the manner of con- 
structing the eastern end of the bridges, below Pawtucket 
Falls, save what is contained in a bond of John Brown, to the 
town of Rehoboth; and it may be, that the owners of the 
bridges owned also the land upon which they were located, on 
the east side of the river. 

The bridge over Pawtucket Falls was erected in 1711, at the 
joint expense of Rhode Island and Massachusetts; was rebuilt 
in 1731. In 1772, after the decision of the royal commissioners, 
Massachusetts built the east abutment ; and it will be remem- 
bered, that the line of the commissioners of 1741, and also the 
ex-parte line of 1746, is, at this point, directly at the east abut- 
ment. 

The legislature of Rhode Island, in 1825, granted a charter 
to sundry persons to build a bridge at Central Falls. The 
bridge was erected, and it stands wholly upon soil of Massa- 
chusetts, according to the line run by the ex-parte commission- 
ers. The jurisdictional line, at this point, has been the centre 
of the river. It will be seen, from this fact, that incorporating 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 65 

bridge proprietors over the Pawtncket or Seekonk River, was 
not regarded by Rhode Island as acts of jnrisdiction merely. 

It will be remembered, in applying the principles of law to 
this part of the line, that the Seekonk River is navigable, — the 
tide ebbing and flowing therein about six feet, — and that the 
sides of a river must be intended to mean the sides of the per- 
manent water, and not the sides of the ocean water, which, at 
regular periods, flows in and over the permanent stream. 

It is proper to notice here, that, in the original purchase by 
Roger Williams, he was bounded easterly by the river; that 
the river is the easterly boundary of Providence; that the town 
of Cranston, incorporated in 1754, is bounded on the east by 
the salt-water river, (Laws of R. I., 1722, p. 78); that North 
Providence, incorporated in 1767, is described as bounding on 
the Seekonk River, until it comes to Smithfield line, (R. I. 
Laws, 1822, p. 81.) The counties of Rhode Island are formed 
from the towns, and the boundaries of the latter determine the 
lines of the counties. (R. I. Laws, 1798, p. 87.) It follows, we 
think, from this, that Rhode Island has not exercised any juris- 
diction over this river, unless there can be shown some act 
expressly authorizing process to be served on its waters. We 
have been able to find no such law, nor has any such been 
referred to. It is clear, that the health officers of Providence, 
without some authority from the legislature of Rhode Island, 
could have no jurisdiction east of the channel. 

In regard to this portion of the line, it appeared that our 
commissioners agreed to its settlement, under strong doubts of 
its propriety, and in the hope that it would be specially exam- 
ined by the legislature, before it should be confirmed. 

The line from Pawtucket Falls to " Burnt Swamp Corner" 
was run, by all the commissioners, a due north course. But, 
upon examining this line, the present commissioners find a 
bound at Burnt Swamp Corner, thirty-one rods and i%% east of 
a due north line from Pawtucket Falls, where the bound is 
established and well known. Taking the latter bound as true, 
the one at Burnt Swamp is incorrect, and whether it was ori- 
ginally a corner-bound, there is now no proof. It is in the 
line making the north and south boundary as found by the 
9 



66 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

commissioners, and there was evidence that it might have been 
estabhshed in 1746, as a bound, by commissioners intending to 
run a north hne from Pawtucket Falls. This bound consists 
of a few stones in a swamp which was testified to extend over 
about eighty rods, although there was some testimony that the 
swamp was not so large. In starting to run the easterly line, 
our commissioners suppose that Burnt Swamp Corner was an 
established monument ; and that, as it was named in the re- 
solve, it must be regarded as the northeast corner of Rhode Isl- 
and, and as a starting point upon the line. 

The committee believe, that the object of the resolve was, as 
is expressed, to find the true line between the states, and if the 
bound at Burnt Swamp Corner did not correspond with the 
permanent and fixed one at Pawtucket Bridge, then it could 
not be the true line of the states agreeably to the line of 1741, 
or 1746. 

The evidence upon this branch of the line shows fully that, 
whilst at Pawtucket Falls, and for some distance north, the 
centre of the river had been the reputed line for convenience ; 
yet it was always understood that the true line ran due north 
from a well-known point at the Falls. It is true, that a line run 
upon this course would be attended with the same inconve- 
nience as has been for some time experienced at Fall River, viz., 
that of dividing the town of North Providence, and subjecting 
portions of the village to different state jurisdictions. Yet, if 
it was the true line, Massachusetts was entitled to have it fixed 
and settled in her favor ; and, however ready she might be to 
yield up to Rhode Island a jurisdiction, the exercise of which 
would have been inconvenient to others, she was entitled to the 
convenience of the river so far as it ran within her limits. 

We think the commissioners would not have erred if they 
had made the corner at Burnt Swamp conform to a north hne 
from Pawtucket Falls. For we apprehend that the legislature 
meant, by using the term " Burnt Swamp Corner," the 
northeast corner of the state of Rhode Island at Burnt Swamp. 
Had this course been pursued, the river, to a considerable ex- 
tent, would have run in Massachusetts, the loss of which, by 
the agreed line, has been the subject of an earnest remonstrance 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 67 

by the inhabitants upon its border, as will be seen by the pa- 
pers in the appendix. 

In the examination of this question, we have had the benefit 
of additional evidence taken upon a commission by the remon- 
strants ; of further evidence in support of the majority report ; of 
arguments of counsel objecting to the report ; and a full history 
of the line from the commissioners of both states. We have given 
the subject all the attention within our power to bestow upon it 
during the present session, with a desire, if possible, to form a 
conclusion that would enable us to recommend a ratification of 
the doings of the majority of the commissioners. But the ex- 
amination has tended to confirm the language of Mr. Borden, 
in his report to the commissioners in 1846. — "That every por- 
tion of the reputed division line between the states of Massa- 
chusetts and Rhode Island, from the Atlantic Ocean to the 
Burnt Swamp Corner, stands upon the soil properly belonging 
to Massachusetts." And we regard the agreed line between the 
same points as more inconvenient and injurious to the citizens 
of Massachusetts, than the reputed line. 

In coming to a conclusion difi'ering with a majority of the 
commissioners, we feel bound, in justice to them, to state that 
the examination of this question, since the agreement of April 28, 
1847, was made, has brought to light evidence, both written 
and oral, which very materially affects its decision ; and it is 
apparent to us that, in aid of a correct decision, less exertion 
was made, by the inhabitants upon and near the line, whilst the 
commissioners were endeavoring to adjust the question, than 
has since been manifested, — attributable, doubtless, to the na- 
ture of the inquiry, and a repugnance to interfere in the inves- 
tigation. The evidence above referred to will be found in the 
appendix, and it may be read with advantage in connection with 
the reports of the majority and minority of the commissioners. 

It will not be expected that the committee should add their 
private commendation to the high public regard entertained for 
the commissioners. But we may be allowed to say that, in the 
protracted hearing before us, their great desire was, that the 
subject, and their labors, might only be understood, — whilst, in 
the opinion we might form, they were solicitous that the inter- 



68 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

est of the state and the justice of the question only might be 
regarded. 

The committee, in recommending that the line agreed upon 
by the majority of the commissioners be not ratified or con- 
firmed, do so upon the ground, and for the reason, that in their 
judgment the line agreed upon is not the true line between the 
states, whether we take for guide the respective charters with 
the adjudications thereon, — the survey of the ex-parte commis- 
sioners. — or the line of jurisdiction. 

We also consider the line an inconvenient one, — at Fall River, 
on the Seekonk, and on the Pawtucket River, both above and 
below the Falls. 

It is not stated to be the true line, in the language of the re- 
solve; but a line as and for the true line, and so the act of the 
majority appears to be a departure from the authority conferred 
by the resolves. And we apprehend that, if a conventional line 
is to be adopted between the states, it will be necessary to its 
establishment, to ask the confirmation of congress. 

In the judgment of the committee, the laws of the respective 
states, passed in 1791, now form the only basis upon which this 
question can be properly adjusted, either by negotiation or ju- 
dicial action. 

They express the same meaning and intention ; their effect- 
ive words are identical ; and they leave for construction nothing 
but the task of determining, from their context, what line will 
come within the principles heretofore agreed upon by commis- 
sioners from Great Britain. As before stated, the only com- 
missioners fro?n Great Britain were Carr and others, who, in 
1664, defined the line to be the waters of the Narragansett, be- 
low Pawtucket Falls, giving to Plymouth Colony her charter 
line. If, on the other hand, it be contended that the words 
"commissioners from Great Britain," refer to the commission- 
ers of 1741, then their line is precisely marked out in their pro- 
ceedings and by their plan ; and there will be no ditficulty in 
ascertaining, by well-known principles of law, its precise loca- 
tion. If difficulties and inconveniences should occur by an ad- 
herence to either of these lines, the judgment and discretion of 
both states will, we trust, see the necessity of accommodating 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 69 

their boundary to the necessities of the present day ; and, under 
the influence of a disposition to promote the true interests 
of both governments, we can see no obstacle to an early and 
just settlement of this question. 

The committee, concurring with the joint commissioners in 
their expressions of the necessity of preserving and cherishing 
the friendly relations existing between the people of the respec- 
tive states, — and entertaining the opinion that their honor and 
interests equally require a speedy adjustment of this boundary, — 
respectfully recommend the passage of the accompanying reso- 
lutions. 

TAPPAN WENTWORTH, Chairman. 



70 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 



€ominontoeiiUl| of M^^f^atf^nmitu^ 



In the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-Eight. 



RESOLVES 

Concerning the Boundary Line between the States of Rhode 
Island and Massachusetts. 

Resolved, That his excellency the governor, by and with the 
advice and consent of the council, is hereby authorized to ap- 
point one or more commissioners, not exceeding three, to act in 
conjunction with commissioners on the part of the State of 
Rhode Island, to settle and determine the line between the said 
States, from the north-east corner of the State of Rhode Island 
to the ocean ; and to report the same, and all their doings, to 
the governor and council, so that the same may be laid before 
the next legislature. And if such line as may be, by said com- 
missioners, agreed on, shall be ratified and confirmed by the 
respective legislatures of said States, the same shall, with the 
approval of Congress, be forever deemed and held the true 
boundary line of said States, between the termini aforesaid. 
And the governor and council are hereby authorized to audit 
and settle the accounts of said commissioners, and draw a war- 
rant on the treasurer therefor, who is authorized to pay the 
same. 

Resolved, That, if such boundary line shall not be ratified and 
confirmed, as aforesaid, before the first day of May, in the year 
one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, the governor is 
hereby authorized to institute such process as he may deem 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 71 

proper, in the supreme court of the United States, for the pur- 
pose of having a final adjudication upon said line. 

Resolved, That the proceedings of the majority of the commis- 
sioners appointed, under a resolve of 1844, in establishing a line 
between this Commonwealth and the State of Rhode Island, 
from Burnt Swamp Corner to the ocean, be, and the same are, 
hereby made null and void. 

Resolved, That the governor be requested to transmit, to his 
excellency the governor of the State of Rhode Island, a copy of 
these resolutions. 



72 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX A. 



These to the Right Honorable Edward, Earll of Clarindon, Lord High 
Chancellor of England, most humbly presented. 

Right Honorable, — 
HowexTer there are upon us soe very many and greate obligations to 
your Lordshipp, for those unmerited favours hitherto extended unto 
this, his Majesties Collony, which here to recount icould hut add to your 
Lordship trouble to read, and, to ourselves, greater measure of shame, 
in that wee have not, nor as yet cannot, save in cmptie icords, any icay 
returne your Lordshipp any the smallist toaJcen of our acknowlidg- 
ments ; hut are even in a wantinge, and consiquently , in a craveinge 
condition for your Lordshipp' s favour to be still our defence and relief e. 
May it please your Honor, this poore, suppressed, and almost Extin- 
guished Collony, next under God and his majestic, owe even their all 
unto your Lordshipp ; and hoicever have not wherein else to shew their 
gratefull acTcnowlidgments , did designe to choose, and sett aparte out of 
this small Tract, a compitcnt and convenient Tract of Land, for afarme 
of a thow sand acres, or there abouts, and to have begged your Lordshipp' s 
acceptance of the same, soe as to owne and dispose of it at your honor's 
pleasure; and should take it as the greatest favour possible, your 
Lordship's acceptation thereof. Now it soe falls, that a present seem- 
inge clowd passing over our Collony, hath eclipsed the splendor of our 
charter, and rendered us in sort uncapable of disposeinge ought in the 
farr greater parte of his Royal Majestie's Graunt, and of our absolute, 
cleere purchases from the Indians. But, believeing there is no intent, 
but that all will be restored to its cleare and full extent unto us, in 
which we humbly implore your Lordship's favour to be our help and 
protector ; some reasons we have made bould to present to your Lord- 
ship, in two papers shewing why, of right and necessity, that, now 



ISIS.] SENATE— Xo. 128. 73 

called the King's Province, be still continued and adjoyned to the rest 
of this Collonie, and why the line between Plymouth Collony and us 
be established as in the mapp prescribed, it beinge according to the 
very letter of the charter to us granted : and have yett a further hum- 
ble petition to your Lordship, concerning some helps or incoragement 
towards fortyfication of this Bay, which, in very deed, is the most ex- 
cellent in New England, considering the climate most healthfull, cite 
most comodious, in the middle of the Collonies, harbours most safe 
for the biggest ships that ever sayld the sea, and of all sorts whatsoever ; 
and for outlett and inlett soe good as none can equall it ; that in the hard- 
ist winters, when the Massachussetts and others, to the east and west 
are fust locked up with strong doores of ice, this is alwaies open ; be- 
sides the conveniency of the maine land and islands, at the very en- 
trance, soe neere each other, easy to be secured by forts in either chan- 
nill. One meanes, may it please your Lordship, to incourage the growth 
of, and give strength to, this his majestie's Collony, would be by some act 
of grace, extending some peculiar previlege, in poynt of freenes of com- 
erce, hence to other his Majestie's dominions, with some ease in 
some measure, as to taxes upon that is imported or exported, thouah 
but for some years. But we dare not direct your Lordship's wisdom, 
but only implore your honorable countinance in what shall seem best : 
only one thing shall be bould to propose, concerninge an estate that is 
bequeathed in England, for the pious end of propagatinge the Gospel 
in convertinge, or at least, instructinge the Indians in the knowlido-e 
of morrall vertues, and by degrees to know God : here are the greatist 
number of Indians liveinge in the confines of this little spot, that are 
in any parte of New England besides: and however those which are 
groune up to ripe years in their wilde and uncivill manners, will 
hardly leave their oune sensuall customs; yett, were there p 
schoole erected, with meanes to maintayne it, for the brino-ino-e their 
children, some to learneinge, and some to handycrafts, for the increase 
of manufacterie, there would, in a few yeares, by the blessinge of the 
Lord, apeere a very hopefull chaing, and in one generation they would, 
in a great measure, be made hapie, and also, be a meane of good ad- 
vance unto his majestie's interest in these parts, under the govern- 
ment of his Majestic, already here established unto us under the Great 
Seale ; and, therefore, wee humbly implore your Lordship's favor in 
furthering this good worke, if soe it shall, in your honour's wisdom, 
apeere to bee ; and thus craveing your Lordship's pardon for oure ex- 
treame boldness and importunity, wee shall humbly recomend to your 
10 



74 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

honorable consideration, the perusall of our humble petition to his Royall 
Majestie herewith presented to your Lordship's view, humbly craveinge 
your Lordship's favour to cover or excuse our boldness, or any other 
errors therein (to us unawares) comitted ; and soe far to extend your 
honour's favour to us as we may thereby be restored to that hapiness 
of injoying that most ample graunt in its full extent, the which wee 
oune ourselves your Lordship's greatly obliged for procuring the same 
at first, but most exceedinglie bound to your Lordship for those high 
favours mentioned in your honourable letter to us, therein declaring 
such unexpected regard to us as was and is wonderful, and hath im- 
boldened us thus to presume to give your Lordship this further trouble 
by the hands of this noble and honorable gentleman, Collonell Cart- 
wright, to whom, and the other honorable commissioner, wee are most 
deeply ingadged for that exceeding care, paines, and travill taken in 
our behalves, and the most unbyassed resolutions by their honours' 
proceeds declared, upon the hearing of all differences ; soe as wee 
have cause, and hope shall have to bless the Lord, and the king's Maj- 
estie, and returne all humble thanks to your Lordship for this hapie 
visitation by those honorable persons — whereby those incredable opres- 
sions wee indured of scorne and contempt, sclaunder and reproach, 
threateninge and mollestation, captiveinge and imprisoninge, fineinge 
and plunderinge the people of this Collony, is now made cleere before 
their honours : and therein cleerly discovered a combination of all he 
Collonies to root us up and expose us to ruine in seekinge out new 
places of the wilderness, there to strugle with all sorte of difficulties, 
as in the begininge of the plantation they forced us to do, and de- 
nyed us reliefe in greatist dangers, which our sufferinge could not be 
knoune to any but God and ourselves untill this time of heareing was 
come. But not to give your Lordship more trouble at this time, wee 
humbly cast ourselves and cause at your Lordship's feete, and with all 
cheerfulness subscribe ourselves, in belialfe of this, his Majestie's Col- 
lony of Rhod Island and Providence Plantations, 

Your Lordship's most humbly and faithfully devoted servants. 



Secretary's Office, Rhode Island, Slc, 

April 17, 1848. 
The foregoing is a true copy of record in this office. 

HENRY BOWEN, Secretary. 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 75 

Some reasons humblie presented to the Right Honourable Edward, 
Earll of Clarindon, Lord High Chancellor of England, by the Govern- 
or and Company of his Majestie's Collony of Rhod Island and Prov- 
idence Plantations, for selling the eastern line according to the mean- 
inge and letter of the Charter : — 

1. Because that line intrinchith not on Plymoth pattant, (such as 
it is,) for that it is not bounded by the sea on the south, in that grant, 
but by a river caled Narraganset River, noe such river beinge knoune. 

2. Because Rhod Island lyeth as inclosed, and in a manner im- 
byed, within the land which Plymoth would have to be within their ju- 
risdiction ; and yett, it is the Narragansett Bay, and, therefore, good 
reason that the maine land inclosinge, and soe neere adjoyening to, the 
island, should pertaine to it, especialie beinge expresly graunted by his 
Royale Majestie, in our late charter, in express words, three miles to 
the east of the most easterly and northeasterly parte of the sayd bay. 

3. Because the island beinge small, scarcelie houldinge three miles 
broad any great parte of it, and fifteene long, the inhabitants, especialy 
on that side the island lyinge very neere the maine, are forced there 
to winter their catle, and otherwise also to keepe them there, which 
land hath otherwise never bine improved by Plymoth, but it hath layne 
wast neere fortie yeares since they first begun that plantation ; besides, 
many of ours, from meere necessity, have bought lands neere the water 
on that side, of the Indian ouners, and possessed it many yeaers peaceably, 
it beinge soe very remote from Plymoth Towne and from any towne of 
that Collony, as that it would be of little use to them, if they had it. 

4. Because the neernes of that land on the east side is, by experi- 
ence, an annoyance to this government, by beinge only at present out 
of the jurisdiction of this Collony, there beinge farmes made by some 
of this island-people just over the river within call of the island, where 
any that are culpable — (illegible,) — by the law here, make their escape 
over, and there are out of the reach even — (illegible,) — Plymoth 
Towne soe very remote that under three or fower dales' time, wee — 
(illegible.) 

in whicJi time the offender is enabled 
to make ajinall escape, nor can wee make the chief e parte of this Collo- 
ny hut on this island, havinge none else fitt as this, which is indeed 
hard to he equalized in New England, for reception and safe rideingc 
of vessells of all sorts, and in all seasons, and in hardist frosty win- 
ters, which is not soe in any other parts of this Cuntry. 



76 BOUJNDARY LINE. [April, 

5. Because the maine land on the east side, as afores'd, is so neere 
the island, and the river hetweene soc convenient, that a toune on that 
side would answer to them on this side very comodiously , on all occa- 
sions of relief e or defence ; and ijideed this Collony can never he secured 
from invassions, if that side, {for such a quantity as is mentioned in 
our Charter,) he not in this jurisdiction, and at its devotion, it lyinge 
soc remote from Plymoth as afore is sayd, that it cannot answer them 
to fortify it, it heinge neere fifty miles from them hy land, hut above 
100 hy water. 

6. Because the people of this island, there setled and settling them- 
selves, havinge bine used to, and lived in, this government, doc earnestly 
long still to he under the protection and direction thereof, as also they 
heinge so neere us, and soevcry rimote from Plymoth, hy which mcanes 
it is very difficult for them to atend their courts of justice. 

7. Because the native Indians, both Sachims and others, not onely , 
and often in former times, have mentioned and desired to be in, or under 
this government ; hut even also, of late, since wee received the late 
Royal Graunt under the Great Scale, have hy word and writing desired 
that they might be esteemed, deemed, and oioned, zvithin this jurisdic- 
tion, haveinge alwaies for neere thirty y cares, had very 7iecrc, frequent 
and friendly comerce and intercourse with us. 

Secretary's Office, Rhode Island, &c., 
April 17, 1848. 

The foregoing is a true copy of record, in this office. 

HENRY BOWEN, Secretary. 



APPENDIX B. 

Extract from the speech of His Excellency, Governor Shirley, to both 
houses, December 30, 1746. 

" Gentlemen of the council and house of representatives : — In the 
recess of the court, I received, from the governor of Rode Island, a 
copy of his majesty's order in council, affirming the judgment of the 
court of commissioners for settling the boundary line between this prov- 
ince and the Colony of Rode Island, accompanied with his letter tome, 



184S.] SEiNATE— No. 128. 77 

proposing that this government should join some persons, with a com- 
mittee from that of Rode Island, to run and mark out the line ; and 
that, in the mean time, I would forbid the officers of this government to 
exercise any jurisdiction in such places as will fall within that colony, 
according to the new settlement of the line. The result of the coun- 
cil thereupon, (to whom I communicated these papers,) I shall lay 
before you, agreeable to which, I have on my part acted hitherto ; and 
desire you would forthwith appoint commissioners to join in running 
and marking the said boundary line." 

Extract from Court Records, January 5, 1746, p. 41. 

"In the house of representatives. On reading that part of his 
excellency's speech, relating to the boundary line between this province 
and the colony of Rode Island, voted, that Mr. Speaker, Mr. Hub- 
bard, Mr. Ruggles, Mr. Goldsbury, and Mr. Williams, with such as 
the honorable board shall join, be a committee to take under consider- 
ation that part of his excellency's speech, and report thereon. 

"In council, read and concurred, and John Gushing, John Chand- 
ler, James Minot, and Andrew Oliver, Esqrs., are joined in the affair." 

Extract from Court Records, January 14, 1746, p. 51. 

"John Gushing, Esq., from the committee of both houses, on the 
affair of the boundary line on Rode Island Golony, gave in the fol- 
lowing report, viz : 

" The committee appointed to consider that part of his excellency's 
speech, relating to the boundary line with the colony of Rode Island, 
have duly considered the same and report : that the said colony of 
Rode Island have, by an act of their government, appointed commis- 
sioners to join with commissioners from this government, to run the 
said line on the second of December last; and in case this govern- 
ment should not appoint commissioners, that then the commissioners of 
that government should proceed ex parte; and this government having 
never been informed of said order until their present sitting, the 24th 
December, the committee are of the opinion that it is not necessary to 
go into any further consideration of the affair at this time. All of 

which is humbly submitted, by 

JOHN GUSHING, Per order. 

" In council, read and accepted. 

In the house of representatives, read and concurred." 



78 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 



Report of Rode Island Ez-parte Commissioners in 1746, 

" At a general assembly of the English Colony of Rode Island and 
Providence Plantations, in New England, held at Providence on the 
sixth day of January, A. D., 1746. 

" Whereas Messrs. James Honeyman, Jr., Gideon Cornell, George 
Brown, George Wanton, and Walter Chandler, were, by the general 
assembly, appointed commissioners to mark out the bounds of this 
colony towards the province of the Massachusetts Bay, agreeable to 
the late determination of the king in council, who, having perfected 
the same, made report to this assembly of their proceedings as fol- 
loweth : — 

" We, the subscribers, appointed commissioners by the general assem- 
bly of the colony aforesaid, to mark out the bounds of said colony east- 
wards towards the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, agreeable to his 
majesty's royal determination in council, the 28th day of May, 1746, did, 
in pursuance thereof, on the 2d day of December last past, meet at Paw- 
tucket Falls, in expectation of meeting with commissioners that might 
be appointed by the province of the Massachusetts Bay for the purpose 
aforesaid ; and, after having there tarried till the after-part of said day, 
and no commissioners in behalf of the said province appearing, we 
proceeded to run a due north line, from Pawtucket Falls to the south 
boundary of the aforesaid province of the Massachusetts Bay, in 
the manner following, viz : — From a certain point on the southern 
side of Pawtucket Falls, where we erected a monument of stones 
with a stake thereon, we run a meridian line, which directly passed 
through said falls to a walnut tree on the northerly side of said 
falls, then to a pitch-pine tree, then to a small white oak, then to 
a gray oak, then to a small bush, then to another small bush 
with stones about it, then to a heap of stones with a stake thereon, 
then to a black oak tree, then to another black oak, then to a small 
pitch-pine, then to a black oak, then to a large white oak near the 
river called Abbott's Run, then to a poplar tree, then to a heap of 
stones with a stake thereon, then to a large rock with stones thereon, 
then to a small black oak tree, then to a walnut tree, then to a black 
oak, then to divers other marked trees in the said course, to the ex- 
tremity of the said line ; and when we came near the termination of 
the said line, made a monument of stones, there being no noted south 
boundary of the said province near the said line ; and therefore, for the 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 79 

discovery of the south boundary of the said province, upon the best 
information we could obtain, proceeded to Wrentham Plain, at or near 
a place where was formerly erected a stake, called Woodward's and 
Saffrey's Stake, as one remarkable south boundary of the said prov- 
ince, and from thence run a west line, making an allowance of eight 
degrees and a half, as the west variation of the magnetic needle from 
the true meridian, it being the course of the south line of the said 
province, according to their charter, (as we apprehended;) and then 
we extended the said north line from the aforesaid monument, till it 
intersected the said west line ; and upon the point of its intersection, 
erected a monument of stones with a stake thereon, as the north-east 
boundary of that tract of land commonly called the Gore. 

" After which we proceeded to Bullock's Neck, and, on the south- 
west corner thereof erected a red cedar post, marked with the letters 
I. H. C. R., with the figure of an anchor thereon ; and from thence 
running a line north-east, making the same allowance for the variation 
aforesaid, to a black oak tree, marked with the letters G. C. C. R., 
then to a large white oak, marked with the letters G. B. C. R., then to 
a white oak post, set in the ground with a heap of stones around it, 
marked with the letters G. W. C. R., with the figure of an anchor 
thereon, being three miles distant from Bullock's Neck, aforesaid. 
After which we proceeded to the north-easternmost part of the bay on 
the west side of Rumstick Neck, and from a point where a locust post 
was erected, run a line three miles north-east, with the same allowance 
for the variation, and at the extremity of said line erected a monument 
of stones, from which we run a line to the north-east extremity of that 
line, drawn from the south-west corner of Bullock's Neck aforesaid ; 
the course whereof being west thirty-eight degrees north, according to 
the magnetic needle, the distance of nine hundred and fifty-five rods ; 
marking trees, and making other boundaries, in the course of said line. 

" After which we proceeded to the north-east corner of Bristol Har- 
bor ; and from high-water mark, which was some rods distant north- 
east from the bridge leading to Swansey Ferry, we run a line three 
miles north-east, still making the same allowance for the variation, and 
at the extremity of which line we erected a monument of stones. 
Then we run a line from the north-east extremity of the line drawn 
from Rumstick aforesaid, the course whereof being south twenty- 
five degrees east till it met with the termination of the line drawn 
from Bristol Harbor aforesaid ; the distance whereof being nine hun- 
dred and twenty-seven rods; and from thence a straight line to the 



80 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

bay at Toweset Neck, making proper boundaries in the course of said 
line. 

"After which we proceeded to the eastern side of the Narragansett 
Bay, and on the easternmost part of a cove in the said bay, which is 
southward of Nanaquacket, run a line three miles east, (still making 
the same allowance for the variation,) at the extremity whereof we 
marked a gray oak tree with the letters C. R., with the figure of an 
anchor thereon. 

" After which v.e proceeded to the mouth of Fall River, and from 
thence measured four hundred and forty rods southerly on the shore as 
the said shore extendeth itself from the mouth of said Fall River ; and 
from the point where the said four hundred and forty rods reached, 
being east thirty-five degrees south of the southernmost point of Shaw- 
omet Neck, we run the line three miles east, with the same allowance 
for the variation ; in the course whereof we marked divers trees, and 
came to a large pond, on the west of which was a small oak between 
two large rocks, and from thence measured over the said pond to a 
bunch of maples, two whereof we marked with the letters 1 and F, 
standing on a place called Ralph's Neck, being the extremity of the 
said three miles ; from thence we run a line south twenty degrees west 
two thousand one hundred and twenty-three rods, (making proper 
boundaries in said line,) till we met the termination of the three-mile 
line, run from the cove southward of Nanaquacket aforesaid. 

" After which proceeded to a place called Church's Cove, in said 
bay, and run a line three miles east, making the same allowance for the 
variation aforesaid, and, at the extremity whereof, and near the sea, we 
erected a monument of stones, and from thence run a line north two 
decrees and a quarter east, one thousand nine hundred and forty-one 
rods, till it also met the termination of the said line drawn from the 
first-mentioned cove as aforesaid ; making proper boundaries in the 
course of said line. 

" The foregoing is a just account of our proceedings, and report 

the same accordingly. 

J. HONEYMAN, Jr., 

(Signed,) GEORGE WANTON, 

GIDEON CORNELL, 

GEORGE BROWN. 

" And it is voted and resolved, That the said report be, and is hereby, 
accepted by this assembly." 

[Public laws of Rhode Island, published by authority, at the Jan- 
uary session, 1798.] 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 81 

APPENDIX C. 

Act of Rhode Island. 

In 1791, at the May session, the Rhode Island legislature also passed 
the following act : — 

Whereas, difficulties and disputes have arisen respecting the bound- 
ary line between this state and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, — 
to prevent which in future, and to promote harmony and affection be- 
tween the citizens of this state and such Commonwealth, — 

Be it enacted, Sfc. That the Hon. Wm. Bradford and Jabez Bowen, 
Esqrs., and Mr. Moses Brown, be, and they are hereby, appointed 
commissioners, on the part of this state, for ascertaining the boundary 
line betw^een the same and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ; 
and the said commissioners are hereby authorized and empowered to 
meet such commissioners as have been appointed and vested with sim- 
ilar powers for the above purpose, by the legislature of the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts, and, in conjunction with them, to ascertain, 
run, and mark, such boundary line upon the principles that have here- 
tofore been agreed upon by commissioners from Great Britain, or by the 
respective legislatures of the late province of Massachusetts Bay and 
the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, for that pur- 
pose appointed, if those principles can now be ascertained; otherwise, 
the commissioners on the part of this state, hereby appointed, are 
authorized and empowered to agree upon such principles, touching the 
running said line, as, from the best documents they can obtain, may 
appear to them just and reasonable, — which line, when so ascertained, 
shall forever afterwards be considered and held to be the true and just 
boundary line of jurisdiction between this state and the Commonwealth 
aforesaid. 



APPENDIX D. 

Report of Rhode Island Commissioners in 1792. 

" To the general assembly of the state of Rhode Island and Provi- 
dence Plantations : — 

" Agreeably to appointment, we, your commissioners, have had sev- 
11 



82 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

eral interviews with commissioners from the state of Massachusetts, 
and conferred on the subject of the boundary line between the two 
states, and entered into an agreement respecting the principles and 
mode of ascertaining the same, which we hereunto present." (See 
the foregoing agreement. Here that portion of the report which re- 
lates to the northern boundary line is omitted, the United States Court 
having settled it.) 

" We then proceeded to Bullock's Neck, and run north-east from 
thence three miles, which passed by the monument erected by the 
commissioners of this state, in 1746, about thirty-four rods ; thence 
we went to Rumstick Cove, and measured off three miles north-east, 
which terminated eight rods short of the old monument ; we then run 
from the north-easterly part of Bristol Harbor, as far as salt grass grew, 
three miles north-east, which fell short of the former monument about 
thirty-seven rods. 

" In measuring down from Fall River, where it enters the bay, to 
find 440 rods mentioned in the decree of king and council, as the spot 
to beffin at, by going round a small bay, we came to the place where 
the neighbors said the commissioners of 1746 run from, but the 
Massachusetts commissioners objected to this mode of measuring 
round the cove, or inlet, and claimed a straight line. It appeared, on 
measuring the three miles east of this station, that it terminated west- 
ward of the former bound, but the course leading into Wattupper Pond, 
the exact distance was not ascertained. The east line from Nanaquag- 
et fell short about 127 rods, and that from Church's Cove fell short 
168 rods, of the monuments now standing, and shown by the neigh- 
bors. 

" In the several measurements in these lines, no allowance was 
made for the crook or sag of the chain, though several lines ran 
throuo-h thick swamps. At a meeting at Providence, and conferring 
on the subject, the commissioners of both states concluded to report a 
state of the business so far as we had proceeded, not being able to 
agree upon any other proceeding in our appointment. 

" In readiness to give such further information on the subject as we 

may be able, and the assembly may require, we respectfully submit our 

report. 

"JABEZ BOWEN, 

MOSES BROWN, 

WM. BRADFORD." 

"Providence, 29th 2d month, called Feb., 1792." 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 83 



Report of 3Iassachusctts Commissioners appointed 1791. 

The commissioners appointed by an act of the legislature of the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, passed on the 8th day of March, 
1791, for ascertaining the boundary line between this Commonwealth 
and the state of Rhode Island, have carefully attended to the services 
assigned them, and take leave to report their doings : — 

On the 15th day of August last, Ave, by agreement, met the com- 
missioners from the state of Rhode Island, at Wrentham, in this Com- 
monwealth, and, after exchanging the powers under which we severally 
acted, we proceeded to discuss the subject that gave rise to our ap- 
pointments, in the course of which it appeared that the state of Rhode 
Island, from their construction of this expression, " three miles south 
of Charles River, or of any and every part thereof," in the ancient 
charter of the Colony of Massachusetts, and as the south bounds of 
the same, claim near three miles north upon this Commonwealth, than 
the present line of jurisdiction between the two governments. The 
commissioners of the Commonwealth, from the circumstance that the 
branch, now called Charles River, and from which the claim of the 
state of Rhode Island would run three miles south to ascertain the 
south boundary of the Commonwealth, could not have been known by 
the name of Charles at the time of granting the Massachusetts charter 
in 1621 ; and from this line being ascertained, and fixed at a different 
place, by commissioners chosen by the colonies of Massachusetts and 
New Plymouth in 1664, at a time when the intentions of the grantor and 
grantees must have been known — are convinced that this claim of the 
state of Rhode Island is ill-founded ; but to complete, if possible, the 
intentions of our appointments, and that the dispute between the gov- 
ernments might be amicably adjusted, we united with the commis- 
sioners of the state of Rhode Island, in the agreement as in No. 1. 

In examining and comparing the charter of the two governments 
granted by the successive kings of England, under which both claim, 
it appears that the first charter of the colony of Massachusetts was 
granted by King James the First, in 1621, and resigned a certain ter- 
ritory to that colony, bounded by an east and west line, which was to 
be " three miles south of Charles River, or of any and every part 
thereof." The same expression is also used for limiting a part of the 
bounds of the old colony of Plymouth, and was probably copied from 
their charter into the Massachusetts, to prevent an interference of 



84 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

claims; the same line is adopted in the charter from King Charles the 
Second to the colony of Rhode Island, granted in 1663, and is their 
northern boundary. The erection of a third government, referring to 
the same bounds, seems to have rendered it necessary for Plymouth 
and Massachusetts to ascertain their bounds ; accordingly, those two 
governments, in 1664, appointed commissioners to survey the most 
southern branch of Charles River, and to lay off from thence three 
miles due south as their boundary line by charter. This vv^as accord- 
ingly done, and they fixed upon a large tree, then known and since 
noted, by the name of the Angle Tree, as the north line of Plymouth, 
and the south line of Massachusetts. The knowledge and name of 
the place is preserved ; and the Commonwealth, in order to perpetuate 
it, have erected, in the place of the tree, the remains of which are now 
to be seen, a handsome stone monument, which bears the name of 
Ancle Tree, and is explained by suitable inscriptions on the different 
faces of it. This the commissioners apprehend to have been the true 
and original boundary, and is three miles south of the most southerly 
waters of Charles River. It does not appear that the colony of Rhode 
Island ever expressed any dissatisfaction respecting their northern 
boundary until 1716, or thereabouts, which finally ended in the ap- 
pointment of commissioners, by both governments, in 1718, who fixed 
a new station about two miles north of the Angle Tree, and which 
was called, after the surveyors, " Woodward and Saffrey's station." 
This place is well known, although no records of it have been pre- 
served, or the proceedings of the commissioners ratified by either gov- 
ernment ; yet the line drawn from it has been practised upon as the 
line of jurisdiction between the governments from that to the present 
time. This Commonwealth then lost two miles in width along the 
northern line of Rhode Island, and seems to have acquiesced in the 
agreement upon principles of generosity. The ancient charters of 
New Plymouth and Rhode Island were irregularly bounded on one 
another; the former, as was supposed, by the shores of the Narragan- 
sett Bay, the latter by three miles east of those shores. This interfe- 
rence of boundary, however, appears not to have given any discontent, 
as the date of the charter of New Plymouth was prior to that of 
Rhode Island, and the peaceful jurisdiction to the shores of Narra- 
gansett Bay was enjoyed not only by the old colony of Plymouth, but 
by Massachusetts, (after these two colonies were united by the charter 
of 1691) down to the year 1730, at which time the colony of Rhode 
Island passed an act claiming the jurisdiction of the territory on their 



184S.] SENATE— No. 123. 85 

eastern boundary, granted to them, by charter, in this act; and in the 
subsequent dispute and determination of the subject, not a claim, nor 
the intimation of one, but that their northern boundary was satisfac- 
tory, as established in 1718. In 1740, the king of Great Britain, who 
was then the sovereign of these states, appointed commissioners to 
hear and determine the dispute then existing between the governments, 
who, after hearing the parties, came to the determination as in No. 2, 
by which the extent of the Rhode Island charter was allowed, and the 
jurisdiction of Massachusetts cut off from the shores of Narragansett 
Bay. This judgment, unexpected by either party, was disapproved of 
by both, and they accordingly appealed to the king in council, where, 
however, it was ratified in 174C. As soon as this information was 
received by the colony of Rhode Island, they proceeded to appoint 
their commissioners, and assigned the time of meeting for them to 
begin running the lines that had thus been determined, and they gave 
information thereof to the governor of this province ; but the legisla- 
ture not being convened until some time after the period affixed for the 
Rhode Island commissioners to begin the survey, they thought it un- 
necessary for them to join in the commission. These lines we peram- 
bulated in company with the commissioners of the state of Rhode 
Island, and, excepting one or two stations between Providence and 
Bristol, which were well ascertained, we found that they had en- 
croached upon this Commonwealth from one quarter to three quarters 
of a mile in width. We were attended by suitable persons, approved 
by both parties, for making the necessary observations and surveys. 
Here, probably, all further dispute relative to boundary lines with the 
colony of Rhode Island, would have forever ended, had it not have 
been for the rage of political parties at this time within that colony, 
one of which, to effect a decided majority, was extremely anxious for 
an extension of northern jurisdiction. Influenced by these motives, and 
perhaps in some measure by their late success, they, in 1748, brought 
forward a new claim for extending their northern boundary beyond 
the line established in 1718; and, to support that claim, they appointed 
commissioners, in 1750, to examine what is now called Charles River, 
and, from the most southern part of the same, to survey off three miles 
as the boundary of Massachusetts, agreeably to their charter. A plan 
of this survey was laid before us, and a copy of it is herewith presented. 
We have inserted our own survey of what we conceive to be the most 
southern part of Charles River, as intended by the charter, above Whi- 
ting's Pond, and the position of the Angle Tree. It may not be un- 



86 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

necessary to observe, that at the southern head of what we call Charles 
River is a place known by a large chestnut tree ; thence the stream 
descends to Whiting's Pond, where it forms a considerable lake, and 
afterwards, resuming its proper shape, (and now known by the name 
of Mill River or Brook,) pursues its course in a northerly direction, 
till it joins that stream which is known by the name of Charles River, 
the confluence of the two streams six miles more northerly than the 
chestnut tree at the southern head of Charles. After perambulating 
the bounds now practised upon, and ascertaining their deviations from 
the stations to which they ought to have been fixed, and learning the 
principles upon which Rhode Island supports her claims, and the ex- 
tent of them, we adjourned to the 5th day of December last, there to 
meet at Providence, in the state of Rhode Island, at which time and 
place we met with the commissioners from Rhode Island, and, after 
fully discussing the several claims, and endeavoring to conciliate the 
difference between the two states, agreeable to the powers of our com- 
mission, we were convinced that no agreement can be made at present 
with them, unless we yield a valuable territory, to which they have no 
claim, and which we hold not only by repeated charters, but by the 
agreement of the state of Rhode Island in 1718 ; and so far from its 
appearing that encroachments have been made by this Commonwealth 
on that state, that the contrary is notoriously the fact. 

(Signed,) WALTER SPOONER, 

ELISHA MAY, 
DAVID COBB. 
Boston, February 21st, 1792. 



1S48.] SENATE— No. 128. 87 



APPENDIX E. 



COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



House of Representatives, February 19, 1848. 

Ordered, That the Joint Special Committee upon the subject of the 
Boundary Line between this Commonwealth and the State of Rhode 
Island, be authorized to appoint a commissioner to take depositions to 
be used in evidence on the hearings before them, whenever, in their 
judgment, it shall be deemed expedient. 

Sent up for concurrence. 

CHAS. W. storey, Clerh 



Senate, Feb. 21, 1848. 
Concurred. 

CHAS, CALHOUN, Chrh 



New Bedford, March 2, 1848. 

Hon. Tappan Wentwortii, Chairman of the Joint Special Commit- 
tee of the legislature on the boundary line between Massachusetts 
and Rhode Island. 

Sir : — In pursuance of the commission issued by you, appointing 
me to take depositions upon -the subject of the boundary line, I en- 
tered immediately upon the duties of the ofBce, and I herewith trans- 
mit the depositions of all the witnesses, whose testimony appeared to 



88 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

be essential, that were summoned before me, from the shore of the 
ocean to the acknowledged northern line of the two states. 

In executing this commission at an inclement season of the year, I 
have received hospitable entertainment from the citizens of both states, 
and essential aid from agents and committees appointed by the border- 
towns of Massachusetts, who appear to feel the deepest interest in the 
subject now before your committee. 

The testimony of the following witnesses has been taken, and is 
hereto annexed, viz. : — 

James Durfee, George H. GifFord, 

William Coggeshall, Peleg W. Peckham, 

Thomas Stoddard, Israel Washburn, 

Carlton Sherman, Nathan C. Brownell, — 

Chester W. Green, All of Westport. 

David Anthony, James H. Taber, 

John S. Cotton, Ephraim W. Brownell, — 

Samuel L. Thaxter, Both of Little Compton, R. I. 

Thomas Borden, Elisha W. Bucklin, 

Joseph D. Brown, William Allen, 

John Wardrop, Squire French, 

Micah H. Ruggles, James S. Brown, 

Abner L. Westgate, John H. Potter, 

Richmond Devoll,— William W. Walker, 

All of Fall River. Amos A. Tillinghast, 
Stephen Sanford, of Tiverton, R. I. James C. Starkweather, 

Mason Barney, of Swanzey, Israel A. Lee, 

Viall Medbery, John B, Read, — 

William Ide, All of Pawtucket, 

Henry W. Charlton, Edward Walcott, of Providence, 

Tristram Burges, — R. I. 

All of Seekonk. A statement respecting two law-suits. 

It may be proper for me to add, for the information of the commit- 
tee, that all the witnesses appeared to testify with great fairness, and 
were, so far as I could learn, persons of the highest character for in- 
tegrity. 

I have the honor to be, 

Your very obedient servant, 

H. G. O. COLBY, Commissioner. 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 89 

I, James Durfee, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol, and Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am about 
eighty years of age. I resided in Fall River till I was fifteen years of 
age, when I removed to Pawtucket, where I remained until I was 
twenty-eight years old, when I returned, and lived one year. I then 
went away again, and remained until about three years since. The 
last part of the time, I resided at New Bedford. 

In the early part of my life, I was acquainted with the stream called 
Fall River, its outlet, and the shore. 

The stream, called Fall River, emptied into a pond, which lay be- 
tween its mouth and Taunton Great River. The pond was where the 
depot now is. We considered it was no longer Fall River after it had 
fallen into this pond. The tide ebbed and flowed in the pond, just the 
same as it did in the bay. Below the pond, was a place called by peo- 
ple the Creek, which connected with the river. Vessels came up in- 
to the pond, and received their cargoes, and discharged them. 

The outlet of the creek was where the cooper's shop now stands, 
which is on the southeast corner of Slade's Wharf, and upon the west 
side was a gravelled beach. 

In a great freshet, before I was fifteen years old, the waters cut a 
channel through the beach. 

The gravelly beach, I have spoken of, was sometimes overflowed 
by the tide, but not very often. 

There was another pond to the west of the pond above described, 
formed by high tides, when the water overflowed the banks. The 
greater part of the water in this last pond drained off" into the pond 
first described, by a connection between them. 

JAMES DURFEE. 

Bristol, ss. — February 24th, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named James Durfee, and made oath to the truth of the fore- 
going deposition, by him subscribed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, William Coggeshall, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol, and 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am fifty 
years of age, and that I am cashier of the Fall River Union Bank, lo- 
12 



90 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

cated in Tiverton, and chartered by the state of Rhode Island. The 
capital of said bank is two hundred thousand dollars, and the banking 
house is about one hundred and seventy feet southerly of the boundary 
line, run by the commissioners of Rhode Island and Massachusetts in 
eighteen hundred and forty-seven. The north corner of the bank's 
land, is about one hundred and twenty-five feet from said line. The 
banking-house is about four or five minutes' walk from the town-house 
in Fall River. 

We pay one quarter of one per cent, on our capital, to the state of 
Rhode Island, as a state tax. Nathaniel B. Borden, of Fall River, is 
president of the bank. He owns stock to the amount of four thousand 
dollars. 

Simeon Borden, of Fall River, is also a stockholder to the amount 
of about twenty-six hundred dollars. 

Three fourths of the business done at the bank, is done by citizens 
of Fall River. 

I have seen a notice within ten days, in a Rhode Island newspaper, 
that application has been made, and is now pending before the legisla- 
ture of Rhode Island, for another bank, to be called the Fall River 
Exchange Bank. Our last dividend was seven per cent., — the previous 
one eio-ht per cent., — and those preceding the two last, varied from 
five and a half to eight per cent. 

About one half the capital stock of the bank is owned by inhabit- 
ants of Massachusetts. 

WM. COGGESHALL. 

Bristol, ss. — February 24th, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Wm. Coggeshall, and made oath to the truth of the fore- 
going deposition, by him subscribed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, Thomas Stoddard, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol, and 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do, upon aflSrmation, testify, that I 
am seventy-five years of age ; that I came here in the year eighteen 
hundred and twenty-five, and have resided here most of the time ever 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 91 

since. I lived in Little Compton, R. I., before I came here. I 
lived not over twenty-five rods from the reputed boundary line between 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island. My parents lived in the same 
place. 

As much as sixty years ago, I heard a great deal said, by my father 
and other persons, about the mode in which the boundary line was run 
out by the committee in seventeen hundred and forty-six. It was com- 
monly reported that it run too far east, and some thought it overrun 
the true distance about a mile. I felt some interest in the subject, and 
made inquiries how it happened. The tradition was, that, when the 
chain was taken up, the person would not put the end or stake down 
where the other one was, but would walk on some distance and put it 
down. I think this was told to me by persons who were present and 
saw it : but it is so long ago that I will not be positive. I am sure 
that this was the account I heard of the overrunning. I satisfied my- 
self then, by examination, that the line was overrun. 

There was also a general report current in the same neighborhood, 
that a Mr. Sessions, who owned a farm, was afraid that he and his farm 
would not belong to the state he wanted to ; and that he went to the 
commissioners and offered them a dinner if they would run the line 
so as to take him into Rhode Island ; and that they accordingly made a 
crook in the line as he requested them ; and that an ox was roasted at the 
dinner given to the commissioners. Most of the people in the neigh- 
borhood belived that the report was true. It was common talk. The 
farm is now owned by Cornelius Seabury, of Tiverton, and occupied 
by his son. The farm was to the south-east of the south pond, so 
called. It is on the road from Rowland's Ferry to the head of West- 
port River. The road goes right by it. It was always understood that 
the line went right through the house. 

I have seen the line between Little Compton and Westport run out 
twice in my day, but it was never run twice alike. They varied 
some rods. 

I lived about a mile from the ocean. 

I never heard any thing said about a peaked rock, as a monument, to 
my recollection. I heard that there was a monument at the sea, said 
to be a heap of stones, but I never went to see it. I think, if there 
had ever been a peaked rock, as a monument, between where I lived 
and the sea, I should have heard something about it — but I have no 
recollection of ever hearing any thing about it. 



92 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

The story which I heard about the barbecued ox, above stated, I 
heard more lately than the other reports narrated by me. 

THOMAS STODDARD. 

Bristol, ss. — February 24th, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Thomas Stoddard, and made solemn affirmation to the 
truth of the foregoing deposition, by him subscribed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Co7mnissioncr. 



I, Carlton Sherman, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol and 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am 
seventy-two years of age, and that I have lived in Fall River and its 
immediate vicinity ever since I was fifteen years old. 

There was a creek or pond where the depot now is, and vessels used 
to come up there. The tide ebbed and flowed in it. The beach to 
the westward of the creek, was sometimes overflowed at high tides ; 
the mouth of the creek, when I first knew it, was about where Slade's 
wharf now is. 

There was a pond to the westward of where the depot now is, and 
the water ran from it into the creek. 

CARLTON SHERMAN. 

Bristol, ss. — February 24th, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Carlton Sherman, and made oath to the truth of the fore- 
going deposition, by him subscribed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



1, Chester W. Green, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol, and 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am thir- 
ty-six years of age, and I went out on Monday last, with some other 
persons, for the purpose of making some measurements relative to the 
boundary line between Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 

I held one end of the tape in making all the measurements, and a 



181S.] SENATE— No. 128. 93 

memorandum was made, at the time, which I saw and verified, by Mr. 
S. L. Thaxter. 

We measured from the bound-stone, designated by the commission- 
ers of 1847 as No. 9, near the toad shop, fifty-seven feet in a south- 
westerly direction to a certain rock, marked " No. 1," very plain. 
It is very nearly fifty-seven feet, at right angles, from the line estab- 
lished by said commissioners. 

From the monument erected on the New Bedford road, near the 
house of B. D. Devoll, we measured seventy-five feet, to a white stone 
in the wall, nearly at right angles, southerly. 

From the bound established by the commissioners of 1847, on the 
west margin of Watuppa Pond, we measured to two rocks on the shore 
of the Watuppa Pond, — the largest, eleven by nine feet across, and 
about four feet six inches high, — the smallest, and most northerly, six 
feet four inches, by ten feet across, and about three feet high ; both 
granite boulders, and about five feet apart, — and an old stump stands 
between them, about eighteen inches in diameter, very much decayed. 
The distance of these stones from the water is about twenty-four feet, 
but, to the natural shore, double that distance. The distance of these 
rocks from the commissioners' monument in a southwesterly direction, 
is one hundred and eighty-seven feet. The commissioners' monument 
stands about forty-eight feet and a half from the actual shore of the 
pond. 

There are two rocks at the place where the commissioners have 
erected a monument. The larger, being most northerly, is about nine 
by eight feet across, three and a half feet high, — the smaller, three and 
a half by six feet across, and about two feet high. They are about two 
feet and a half apart. They are both much broken, and are of gran- 
ite. There is no sign of a stump or a tree between them, that I could 
discover. 

C. W. GREEN. 

Bristol, ss. — February 24, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Chester W. Green, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



94 BOUxNDARY LINE. [April, 

We, David Anthony, John S. Cotton, and Samue! L. Thaxter, all 
of Fall River, in the county of Bristol and Commonwealth of Massa- 
chusetts, do, severally, upon our respective oaths, testify, that we have 
heard the foregoing deposition of Chester W. Green, read by the 
commissioner ; that we accompanied the said Green, on the occasion 
testified to by him, and assisted in the said measurements and exami- 
nation, and that the facts therein stated are true. 

DAVID ANTHONY, 
JOHN S. COTTON, 
SAM'L L. THAXTER. 

Bristol, ss. — February 25, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named David Anthony, John S. Cotton, and Samuel L. Thaxter, 
and severally made oath that the foregoing deposition, by them sub- 
scribed, is true, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, Thomas Borden, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol and Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts, master mariner, do, upon oath, testify, 
that I am sixty-two years of age, and have always resided here from 
my birth, except for about eleven or twelve years; and, during that 
time, — I mean these eleven or twelve years, — T resided within two 
miles of the village, and visited the village very often. 

I was born below the hill, and within a very short distance of the 
mouth of the stream called Fall River, and am well acquainted with it, 
I have been employed twenty-four years in navigating vessels. The 
stream fell into what we always called the pond, which was just north 
of the Metacomet Mill. The pond was salt water ; — the tide ebbed 
and flowed in it the same as it did in the bay, and vessels were in the 
habit of coming in there and receiving and discharging their cargoes. 
I have seen several vessels there at a time. I have seen one in the 
basin, of three hundred and sixty-eight tons. She was built there, and 
launched there. During the war, the same ship was brought in there, 
and sunk, for protection, for two years and a half. This basin, or 
pond, was above what is now called Central Street. Another ship was 
also built there. 

The basin is now filled up ; and the railroad depot, and I should think 
some little part of the furnace, are upon it, I should think the area 



1848.J SENATE— No. 128. 95 

of the basin was about two acres at low water, — and five or six acres 
at high water. 

From this pond or basin, was a creek which led into Taunton Great 
River. It was wide enough to allow a sloop to beat in and out, — which 
I have done a number of times. 

The usual tides in this bay, are from four to six feet. 

The two ships, before spoken of, were built near the west end of the 
Metacomet Mill. It was a common place for building vessels, — and I 
should think I had seen a dozen vessels built there. 

The passage from the basin or pond, to the river, was always called 
the creek. We were accustomed to speak of going into the creek, or 
out of the creek, or in the creek, &c. 

There were no other wharves in town, upon which any business was 
done,'except those upon the basin and creek. 

When Slade's Wharf was built, I think it canted the mouth of the 
creek a little to the south. 

The western bank of the creek was a gravelly beach, which was 
frequently overflowed, at the full and change, and when there was an 
easterly wind ; and, when that was the case, the whole creek and basin 
looked like one sheet of water, clear up to what is now the Metacomet 
Mill. A good many fish used to come in there. 

There was a pond westerly from the basin, that filled at every flood 
tide, which emptied itself into the basin before spoken of, and at very 
full tides the beach and intervening marsh were all overflowed. 

The stream called Fall River, was considered as ending where it fell 
into the basin. I have run a sloop up within twenty feet of where it 
fell. 

Thomas Borden, my father, owned the land on the south and west 
of the basin. 

The depth of the basin, at low water, was from twelve to fifteen 
feet. 

The land owned by my father, bordering on the basin, has been 
transferred to the Fall River Iron Works Company, and is occupied 
by them, and also by the railroad company. 

THOMAS BORDEN. 

Bristol, ss. — February 24, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Thomas Borden, and made oath to the truth of the fore- 
going deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



96 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

I, Joseph D. Brown, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol and 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am 
thirty-nine years of age, and have lived here about twenty-five years. 

My father and I bought a lot of land on Third Street, in Fall River, 
in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-four, I believe. We then 
built a house on it. We bought the lot, supposing it to lie in Massa- 
chusetts, and paid our tax and voted in Fall River, There was a lot 
south of this, which I liked better than this, but it was supposed to be 
in Rhode Island, and we purchased the other because we supposed it 
was undoubtedly in Massachusetts, Some time after we erected our 
house. Col. Harnden run the line, and it took a small piece of our lot 
into Rhode Island, but it was so small that we were never taxed for it 
in that state. 

The last line that has been run, by the commissioners of the two 
states, in 1847, runs four rods north of the line which Col, Harnden 
run, and which we supposed to be the reputed line, and takes the whole 
of our lot into Rhode Island, except a piece left in Massachusetts, 
about as large as that left in Rhode Island by Col. Harnden's running. 
I never was taxed in Rhode Island at all. 

I know Wardrop's island, so called. The line run by the commis- 
sioners in 1847, throws that island into Rhode Island, 

I have addressed a memorial to the legislature of Massachusetts, to- 
gether with my father, in which these facts are stated, and in which 
we remonstrate against the establishment of the line run by the com- 
missioners in 1847, 

JOSEPH D. BROWN. 

Bristol, ss. — February 24, 1848, Then personally appeared the 
above-named Joseph D. Brown, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, John Wardrop, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol and Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I have resi- 
ded in Fall River, for the last twenty years. 

I own a house and lot, which I purchased ofPatrick Wright, who 
purchased of Bradford Durfee, the 18th of July, A, D. 1832. My 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 97 

deed is dated Dec. 16th, 1834. In both these deeds, the land, which 
is about one acre in extent, is described as being in Fall River. The 
deeds are recorded in Bristol County, Massachusetts. I have supposed 
that these deeds cover and include the land called Wardrop's Island. 
I have sold the island to Joseph Purfee and Daniel Paine. The line 
run by the commissioners of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, in 1847, 
throws nearly the whole of this land into Rhode Island. A large fac- 
tory has since been built upon the island. 

I paid taxes for the island to Rhode Island in 1842, 1844, and 

1845. 

JOHN WARDROP. 

Bristol, ss. — February 24th, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named John Wardrop, and made oath to the truth of the fore- 
going deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, Micah H Ruggles, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol and 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am fifty- 
six years of age, and have resided in this town since the year eighteen 
hundred and twenty-six. 

That I have had a general acquaintance with the stream called Fall 
River, and the waters and shore adjacent, since that time. The old 
iron works which occupied the site now occupied by the Metacomet Mill 
were built before I came here. There was no dam below the iron 
works. Very high tides threw back the water upon the wheel which 
carried the iron works. It was navigable water just below the iron 
works, and vessels were accustomed to come up and discharge their 
cargoes within ten or twenty feet of the iron works. There was a 
store upon the wharf on the south side of the stream or creek. 

The Pocasset Company owned an old wharf, which is now covered 
by the depot and other railroad improvements, and it was about fifty 
feet from the iron works ; and vessels passed above the old wharf and 
discharged their cargoes. This and other wharves were above what 
is now called Central Street. The tide ebbed and flowed at these 
wharves just as it did in the bay. There was no fall to prevent the 
same ebbing and flowing. 
13 



98 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

The outlet was and is near Slade's Wharf. 

The Pocasset Company, of which I am the agent, had wharves, be- 
fore the property was occupied by the railroad, some hundred and fifty 
feet in length upon the basin or cove. The water below this basin, 
passing Sanford's Wharf, was called the creek. 

M. H. RUGGLES. 

Bristol, ss. — February 24, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Micah H. Ruggles, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissiona'. 



I, Abner L. Westgate, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol and 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am 
thirty-seven years of age ; that I have memorialized the legislature of 
this Commonwealth against establishing the boundary line recently run 
by the Massachusetts and Rhode Island commissioners. 

Some fifteen or sixteen years ago, I purchased a lot of land of Col. 
Richard Borden and David Anthony, situated on Fourth Street. I 
supposed, when I bought it, that it was in Fall River. I erected a 
house and outbuildings upon it immediately, and have continued to oc- 
cupy it up to the present time. I have, ever since said purchase, voted 
in Fall River, and exercised all the other rights of citizenship therein. 
In the year eighteen hundred and forty-six, I was chosen an assessor 
of Fall River, and accepted the office, and acted as such. In the year 
eighteen hundred and forty-two, I was nominated and voted for as a 
representative to the legislature of Massachusetts. 

I have never paid any poll-tax, or tax upon my real estate, to the au- 
thorities of Rhode Island. 

By the line established by the commissioners of Rhode Island and 
Massachusetts in 1847, my dwelling-house and all my land, except a 
very smalt corner, falls within the boundaries of Rhode Island. 

The reputed line between the states was, according to my under- 
standing and knowledge, from four to six rods southerly of the commis- 
sioners' line of 1847. 

When I first took the deed of my land, it was described as lying in 
Fall River ; but, in consequence of the advice of my friends, who 



1S4S.J SENATE— No. 128. 99 

thought some small part of it might be in Rhode Island, the deed was 
accordingly changed, and the land was described as lying either 
in Rhode Island or Massachusetts. 

ABNER L. WESTGATE. 

Bristol, ss. — February 24th, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Abner L. Westgate, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Conwiissioncr. 



I, Stephen Sanford, of Tiverton, in the state of Rhode Island, do, 
upon oath, testify, that I am seventy-seven years of age, and live about 
a mile and a half from the village of Fall River, on the old road lead- 
ing to New Bedford. The " rolling rock," so called, is on the same lot 
my house is on. I have lived there over forty years. For twenty 
years before I lived in Fall River, and tended mills upon the river. 

When I was a small boy, there was a white stone in the wall on the 
old Bedford road, and there used to be a good deal of talk about it. 
They used to say that that was a dividing line between the two states, 
and, when we went by that, we would be in another state. I always used 
to look at it, when I went by it. I have seen it lately, and it looks like 
the same stone, except that it has grown older and looks a little darker. 
Within a year or two, I pointed out this stone to a number of gentlemen, 
whom I did not know. One of them was Mr. Sheffield, a lawyer in 
Tiverton ; and there was a large gentleman, who sat in the carriage. 
At the same time I went with them to the pond, Simeon Borden was 
with them. We went to search for a black oak tree. I used to know 
where it was, and was well acquainted with it, but we could not find 
it, or any remains of it. I thought I could go right to it. It was 
either between or near some rocks, or in the range of them, a little 
below. I can't be sure. That tree was left, when the wood was cut 
off; but it grew old and the branches fell off, and it decayed. 

I went, with the commissioners of 1847, to the place where they set 
up a monument. They looked round there, but we did not go to the 
place where I have been this morning, (Feb. 25th,) with S. L. Thax- 
ter, where we found a stump between two large rocks. The remains 



100 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

of the stump, which we examined this morning, show that the tree was 
a red or black oak. When I went with the commissioners, we searched 
up and down, but we found no tree nor stump, nor any place where it 
was, nor was there any appearance of a stump or tree between the 
rocks, where they placed the monument ; but there used to be a tree 
between the rocks and the pond, which rotted away. 

When I was seventeen years of age, there was a lawsuit between the 
Durfees and Col. Bowers, and an execution was issued to set off their 
land. My father and I were employed to cut off the wood. They 
managed so that the Durfees, who were the debtors, could cut off the 
wood. We went to work cutting, and then they run the line. Col. 
Bowers was the creditor. We found that we cut over the line, and 
when the line was run, we stopped, and cut on the other side. We 
supposed that the line was pushed a good deal north, because all the 
land that lay in Rhode Island could not be taken on the execution, but 
would belong to the Durfees. They wanted to save all they could. 
This land lay near the Watuppa Pond, where the monument and the 
old stump now are. The land was well wooded. 

STEPHEN SANFORD. 

Bristol, ss. — February 25, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Stephen Sanford, and made oath that the foregoing depo- 
sition, by him subscribed, is true, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 

N, B. After this deposition was taken, and the deponent had left, 
it was called to my notice that, when the witness says, " we searched 
up and down," he explained it more fully than is stated in the deposi- 
tion. I understood him to say, that they searched east and west, in the 
line, but they did not search north and south. 

H. G. O. COLBY. 

" And another tract or piece of land, bounded as follows, to wit : — 
Beo-inning on the easterly side of the same highway, and on the south- 
erly side of what is called Judge Durfee's home-farm, and at the cor- 
ner of Nathan Bowen's land — thence running south seventy-one 
degrees east, four hundred and sixty-eight rods to a heap of stones in 
Freetown line — thence, on said Freetown line, one hundred and thirty- 
one rods, to a red oak tree marked by the side of Watuppa Pond, so 



184S.] SENATE— No. 128. 101 

called — thence north ten degrees east, ninety-nine rods, a corner — 
thence running north seventy-one degrees west, to the same highway 
aforesaid, a stone by the wall — thence south twelve degrees east, thir- 
teen rods, by said highway — thence south eleven degrees west, by said 
highway, thirty-one rods and five links — thence south twenty-four de- 
grees west, thirty-two rods — thence by said highway, south eleven 
degrees west, forty-four rods, to said Bowen's Corner, containing four 
hundred and thirteen acres." 

An extract from the appraiser's return on execution, Jerathmael 
Bowers vs. Thomas Durfee, copied from the 69th book of Bristol 
County Land Records, page 206. 

Attest, JOSEPH WILBAR, 

Register. 



I, Richmond Davol, of Fall River, in the county of Bristol and 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am 
thirty-eight years of age ; that I went with the commissioners of Mas- 
sachusetts and Rhode Island, in 1846-7, to the stone near the toad 
shop, near Fall River. Mr. John Durfee, of Tiverton, pointed that rock 
out as one of the bounds between the states. There were some marks 
on it, and I helped clear the dirt out of them. They were marks that 
had been chiseled in. The marks were " No. 1." Mr. Durfee said 
this was one of the bounds, and got upon a rock to see if he could see 
the reputed buttonwood, which was said to be another mark. I think 
we discovered one limb of it from that place, but I am not willing to 
say certain. 

From there we proceeded to the old road, where there was a white 
stone in the wall, and that was likewise described by him, as another 
of the bounds. From this place we could easily discern the button- 
wood. 

RICHMOND DAVOL. 

Bristol, ss. — February 25, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Richmond Davol, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Co7nmissioncr. 



102 BOUNDARY LINE, [April, 

I, Mason Barney, of Swanzey, in the county of Bristol and Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am sixty- 
four years of age, and have lived in the same place during the whole 
time within three fourths of a mile of Rhode Island Line, so called. 
I have been always acquainted with the reputed boundary line between 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island. When I was a boy, there was a 
large cherry tree on the line, and the boundary stone was right against 
the cherry tree. We used to go there to get cherries, and I have seen 
the stone a great many times. I have run out the line a great many 
times on account of our fishing business, so that we might know where 
to fish in Massachusetts. 

The line, run by the commissioners in 1847, encroaches eighty paces 
on Massachusetts, from where the old line used to be. I did not go 
with the cojnmissioners to this tree and stone, but I told them that 
they did not run any where near where the old line was. About a week 
or ten days ago, I paced off the distance from the old cherry tree to 
the line established by the commissioners, and found it eighty paces, 
as above stated. 

A part of the fishing privilege which has been enjoyed by the inhab- 
itants of Swanzey, for a great many years, under the laws of Massa- 
chusetts, is thrown into Rhode Island. I cannot tell how much, as I 
have not run it out, but I am afraid nearly the whole. 

MASON BARNEY. 

Bristol, ss. — February 25th, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Mason Barney, and made oath to the truth of the fore- 
going deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, Viall Medbery, of Seekonk, in the county of Bristol, Massachu- 
setts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am fifty-two years of age, and that I 
have always resided in that part of Rehoboth now called Seekonk. I 
am well acquainted with the shore from Bullock's Neck to Pawtucket 
Falls. The flats in some parts are quite extensive and valuable ; in 
some parts, they are not so extensive. I should think they would 
average from twenty to twenty-five rods clear through. I think they 



1848.] SENATE— No. 12S. 103 

could not now be bought for half a million of dollars; and if they 
should belong to Massachusetts, their value would be very much in- 
creased. I mean, by the flats, all the land below high-water mark. I 
have given, in a former deposition, to which I now refer, a minute de- 
scription of the whole shore. 

I have been one of the assessors and selectmen of Seekonk, for ten 
years past. I know that the lands, and structures on them, and made 
lands, have been taxed ; also the islands this side the middle of the 
channel, have been taxed in Seekonk, and the taxes have been paid 
without objection, so far as I know. 

I never knew nor heard of Rhode Island claiming or exercising ju- 
risdiction on this side the river, beyond the channel, until the present 
controversy arose about two years ago, except that they erected a toll- 
house on this side, at India Point. I never knew for what reason it was 
moved. I never heard it said that it was put there because Rhode Isl- 
and had a right to the land, nor any thing said about it. I supposed it 
was done for convenience. 

VIALL MEDBERY. 

Bristol, ss. — February 26, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Viall Medbery, and made oath to the truth of the fore- 
going deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, William Ide, of Seekonk, in the county of Bristol, Massachu- 
setts, do testify upon oath, that I am fifty years of age, and that I 
have always resided in Seekonk, about one mile from Providence or 
Seekonk River, and that I am well acquainted with the shore of said 
river from Bullock's Neck to Pawtucket Falls. The general charac- 
ter of the shore is not bold — though there are some places where it is 
so, but the space left between high and low water mark is very exten- 
sive. I should judge, from mere estimate, without having made any 
actual measurements, that the quantity of land between the above 
points, between high and low water mark, is about a thousand acres. 
This property is now of great value, and its value has been, and still is, 
constantly increasing. I should think the present value of the said 
flats, and the buildings and wharves upon them, was about half a mil- 



104 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

lion of dollars; and if Massachusetts can hold to low-water mark, or 
to the channel, they will soon be worth a great deal more. I have 
heard many persons say that they intend to build upon, and otherwise 
improve, the said flats, as soon as this question is decided in favor of 
Massachusetts. 

There is a place, where a cove runs up about half a mile from low- 
water mark, where the tide ebbs and flows, near John Martin's and 
David Humphrey's. It is surrounded by low meadow land, containing 
a large number of acres, which is covered regularly by the tide as it 
flows. This property has belonged to the towns of Seekonk and Re- 
hoboth for fifty years or more, and has been let or improved by them, 
and is very valuable. 

There is another cove, which makes up twice as far as the one above 
named, at what is called the Cove Factory. One of the factories stands 
over the high water, I should think about twenty feet. 

Bucklin's Island contains about twenty acres of improved land, and, 
including the flats, about thirty acres. In the year 1846, that island 
was taxed at eighty cents or thereabouts ; and, in 1847, nine dollars 
and ninety cents. The reason was, the improvements made upon it. 

There is a great deal of valuable property between high and low 
water mark at India Point. 

I have been an assessor of the town of Seekonk since 1838, and I 
know that all the property between high and low water mark has been 
taxed in Seekonk, and the taxes have been paid without objection, with 
this exception, viz : the toll-house at India Bridge, which has always 
been taxed in Seekonk, and which was paid one or two years, but pay- 
ment of it was always refused at all other times. We did not choose 
to go to law about it, because it was so small, and we hoped the ques- 
tion would be otherwise settled. 

I never knew nor heard of Rhode Island claiming or exercising 
jurisdiction on this side the river, above low-water mark, until after 
this question was agitated about two years ago. I did hear, about 
twenty-five years ago, that a coroner's jury from Rhode Island held an 
inquest on this side, on the body of a man found drowned. 

I saw the body. It was the body of a Providence man, and was re- 
moved to that town. 

WILLIAM IDE. 

Bristol, ss. — February 26, 1848. Then personally appeared the 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 105 

above-named William Ide, and made oath to the truth of the foregoing 
deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



T, Henry W. Charlton, of Seekonk, in the county of Bristol, Mas- 
sachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am forty-seven years of age, 
and have resided in Seekonk, with the exception of about six years, 
(when I was very young,) ever since I was born. 

I am part-owner of Bucklin's Island, which we consider a valuable 
property. It is a solid body of brick clay. I consider the island 
worth more than three thousand dollars, with the improvements already 
made. It has always been taxed in Massachusetts ever since I owned 
it, and the tax has been paid. 

I have repeatedly collected taxes from the railroad companies at 
India Point, assessed upon their property, which stands below high- 
water mark. 

I never heard of Rhode Island claiming or exercising any jurisdic- 
tion on this side the river, above low-water mark, until about two 
years ago, when the present controversy arose. I have heard of their 
holding inquests upon the bodies of persons found in the water ; but 
the persons drowned belonged to Rhode Island, and their bodies were 
removed there. 

About seven years ago, I acted as constable in summoning a cor- 
oner's jury upon the body of a child found dead on the shore of 
Seekonk River, near Bucklin's Island, below high-water mark, on the 
east side of the river. The inquest was taken under the laws and 
jurisdiction of Massachusetts. 

I am acquainted with the shore from Bullock's Neck to Pawtucket 
Falls. In some places, there are no flats, but, in other places, the flats 
lay bare as much as fifty rods. I should think it would be a very mod- 
erate estimate, and within bounds, to say that the width of the flats 
would average fifteen rods for the whole distance. All the salt-marsh 
is valuable — it is worth a hundred dollars an acre. 

HENRY W. CHARLTON. 

Bristol, ss. — February 26, 1848. Then personally apppeared the 
14 



106 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

above-named Henry W. Charlton, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, Tristam Burges, of Seekonk, aged seventy-eight years, this 26th 
day of February, A. D. 1848, do testify and say, that I have for many 
years known the waters of Seekonk River, and the eastern side of the 
same. 

As I am an old-colony man, having been born, and residing, until 
twenty-one years old, in Rochester, not quite twenty miles from the 
Plymouth Rock, I hope I shall be excused if I should show a warm 
side towards the Pilgrim Colony, endeared to me by so many recollec- 
tions. 

My lands border on the Seekonk River, about three hundred rods. 
The Watchemoket farm, where I now reside, was purchased in the 
year 1803, and a number of additions have been made to it since 
that time, so that it now contains one hundred and fifty acres, and 
lies on the river one hundred rods. 

The Lyon farm had been divided into a number of parts, and of 
these I purchased, I think, six, or one hundred and seventy-seven 
acres, by six deeds. All these bound on the river, and comprehend, 
not only the upland, but also the shore, flats, thatch, and salt-marsh. 

So it is on the other farm. 

All my deeds are recorded in Taunton, and not elsewhere, nor have 
I any reason to believe that any deed of land between Bullock's Neck 
and Pawtucket Falls is recorded any where except at Taunton. The 
property, between high and low water mark, has ever been taxed to 
me in Seekonk ; and, though I pay a large tax on real estate in Provi- 
dence, the lands between high and low water mark on the eastern 
shore are not taxed there ; nor does this seem to be because these 
lands are of little value, — for, in connection with the Watchemoket 
farm I own about three acres, called round meadow. This was 
good salt meadow, and was so situated that, by cutting a broad ditch 
round the whole, a fishery could be made, of considerable value. 
This I began to do in 1821 or 1822. Soon after this, and before I 
had been able to finish this work, I engaged in the public service, and 
went to Congress in 1825, where I continued for ten years. During 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 107 

this time, the Boston and Providence Railroad had been built, cutting 
my round meadow in two, about the middle, and crossing my land 
about one hundred rods in length ; between thirty and forty of it, be- 
tween high and low water mark. I claimed damage of the railroad 
corporation. We submitted the question to three referees, and they 
awarded to me as damages, and in payment therefor, two thousand 
dollars — I conveying to the corporation, by deed, the land covered by 
their road, about four and one eighth acres. I conveyed, and they 
paid me the two thousand dollars. 

At that time, there were but two dwelling-houses near the river, one 
on the Mauran farm and one on the Watchemoket farm. 

Since then, I have sold fifteen lots, on which neat and comfortable 
dwelling-houses have been built ; and on the Mauran farm nearly the 
same number, all near the river. Lots, fifty feet by one hundred, are 
sold from one hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars, on the roads. 
A lot on the shore could not be had for that price. I state this, to 
show that the lands between high and low water mark are of great 
value, from the falls to Bullock's Neck. 

I have examined all the surveys and reports of commissioners on 
the boundary line, with the agreement of Myron Lawrence and others, 
and find that this agreement transfers to Rhode Island five thousand 
three hundred eighty-nine acres, one quarter, and five rods, more land 
than was awarded by the commissioners of George II. 

The agreement of Myron Lawrence and others, placing the line 
between the falls and the neck, at high-water mark, will be of the 
greatest evil to owners of land on the east side of the river, for it 
will force us to get our deeds all recorded, not only at Taunton but at 
Providence also, and may be a fruitful source of litigation ; for we 
have heard, from one Rhode Island commissioner, that his state will 
claim not only the jurisdiction, but also the fee-simple, to high-water 
mark. Besides, if the Rhode Island jurisdiction be fixed at high- 
water mark, the toll-bridge at India Point will, so soon as it reverts 
to the state, probably in two years, become a toll-bridge, permanently, 
by the action of Rhode Island, who will fix a toll and tariff there, for 
the benefit of the island, in her revenue. This will be prevented if 
the agreement of Lawrence and others is not confirmed, and in a few 
years the tolls will raise a fund, the income of which will insure and 
keep the bridge in repair. 

The agreement of Myron Lawrence and others is based on two 
gross errors : — One is in holding the phrase, " eastward side" of the 



108 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

river to mean high-water mark, when in fact the high-water mark is 
the mark made by the tide-water and not by the river-water. The 
other mistake is still more gross; for it states that Rhode Island has 
claimed and exercised jurisdiction to high-water mark for half a cen- 
tury. This is not true in fact ; but if it were, it could give no title 
to Rhode Island, because the commissioners of both states, in 1791, 
agreed " to leave the line from the falls," as I say, to the ocean, but 
doubtless to Bullock's Neck, " to be run and settled when the north 
line was settled." This was done by the supreme court of the United 
States, in 1846, and so, to that time, no occupancy of either party 
could alter the title of either. 

Finally, I state it as a fact, which, from all I have heard, I fully 
believe, that the people of Massachusetts, bordering on this line, from 
the ocean to the line of this state on the north, will never be satisfied 
until this line is settled by the supreme court of the United States ; 
and it is seen, by the report of M. Lawrence and W. Baylies, that they 
have agreed to the line as they have, because the Rhode Island com- 
missioners would agree to no other. 

The proviso of M. Lawrence and others, giving to the people on 
this side a right to fish, does not and cannot secure them against the 
law of Rhode Island excluding them ; and the riparian rights reserved 
to the shore-owners, cannot exempt the lands, in Rhode Island juris- 
diction, from their laws. 

(Signed) TRISTAM BURGES. 

Bristol, ss. February 26, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Tristam Burges, and made oath to the truth of the fore- 
going deposition by him subscribed. Before me, 

(Signed) H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, George H. Gifford, of Westport, in the county of Bristol, Massa- 
chusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am forty-two years of age. 

My grandfather, John Rowland, who lived in Westport, and died 
in February 1827, and was seventy-two years of age, used to say, that 
his grandfather used to tell him about the running of the boundary 
line between Massachusetts and Rhode Island. His grandfather was 
John Lawton, and my grandfather said he went to live with him when 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 109 

he was six years of age. I think he told me that Lawton was present 
when the line was run. He said, when they run the line, they came 
out at the foot of the hill, about twenty-five rods from the Sisson- 
house, where Cornelius Seabury, Jr., now lives, — and it came on night, 
or towards night, and Sisson took them up to his house, — gave them a 
supper and as much liquor as they wanted, — and they got pretty warm, 
and had a jolly time. Sisson said he wanted to be in Rhode Island ; — 
and, in the morning, they went out into the road, instead of going to 
the foot of the hill, v/here they left off, — set their compass, and run 
the line ricrht through the house. 

GEO. H. GIFFORD. 

Bristol, ss. — February 28, 1848. — Then personally appeared the 
above-named George H. Gilford, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, Peleg W. Peckham, of Westport, in the county of Bristol, Massa- 
chusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am sixty years of age. When I 
was young, I frequently heard my father, Jonathan Peckham, who has 
been dead thirteen years, and who died in his eighty-third year, con- 
verse with old people about the boundary line between Massachusetts 
and Rhode Island. When old George Lawton, or old Isaac Tripp, (the 
hunter,) came to my father's shop, they almost always conversed about 
the line. My father and George Lawton were for having the line run 
as far west as Seaconnet River, and old Isaac Tripp said it ought to 
run where old uncle Sisson wanted it, and he was glad it went where 
it now runs. He said that old uncle Sisson was a very wealthy and 
free-hearted man, and always kept an open house for travellers and 
hunters, and always had something good to eat and drink ; and, more 
than all that, he took the men home with him that established the line, 
and kept them all night, and fed them, and gave them as much as they 
could drink, — and in the morning, they told old uncle Sisson that the 
line run right through the middle of his house, and that pleased uncle 
Sisson. 

The above is about the purport of what I frequently heard between 



no BOUNDARY LINE. [April 

my Hither and others, and is as near as I can recollect. This was a 
common tradition, and generally believed. Lawton's farm was about 
fifty rods south of Sisson's, on the opposite side of the road. 
The Sisson farm is now occupied by Cornelius Seabury, Jr. 

PELEG W. PECKHAM. 

Bristol, ss. — February 28, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Peleg W. Peckham, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Cominissioner. 



I, Israel Washburn, of Westport, in the county of Bristol, Massa- 
chusetts, do, upon affirmation, testify, that the monument on the mill- 
dam in Adamsville, erected by the commissioners of 1847, is eighty- 
five feet and -j^J,. of a foot east of a direct line from Sanford's, to a 
Peaked Rock on the shore. 

The second monument, south, is about sixty rods south of the other, 
and it stands one hundred and thirteen feet and -f\^^^ east of said direct 
line. 

As we have estimated it, running a straight line by these two monu- 
ments to the ocean, would bring us six hundred and fifteen feet, and 
one fifth of a foot, east of the Peaked Rock. The Peaked Rock is 
reputed to be an ancient monument. 

The third monument towards the ocean is two hundred and thirty- 
four feet and -^^^ east of the said direct line. 

We judged it to be one mile and a half from monument No. 2 to 
monument No. 3, and these three are all the monuments between this 
place and the Peaked Rock. 

There are six houses thrown into Rhode Island by the above de- 
scribed curvature in the line from Sanford's to the ocean. If the line 
were run straight, these houses would fall within Massachusetts. The 
occupants of these houses have, however, always exercised the rights of 
citizenship in Rhode Island, and been considered as belonging to that 
state. 

ISRAEL WASHBURN. 



1818.] SENATE— No. 128. Ill 

Bristol, ss. — February 28, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Israel Washburn, and made affirmation to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Cotnmissioncr. 



I, Nathan C. Brownell, of Westport, in the county of Bristol, Mas- 
sachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I have been, and acted as a jus- 
tice of the peace, for nearly thirty years. For a long time, until 
within about two years past, there was no acting magistrate in Adams- 
ville, except occasionally, and I was frequently called upon to go there 
and take the acknowledgment of deeds, and perform any other offi- 
cial acts, of the like character. There was a building, called the 
Warehouse, which is now standing on the west side of the Cohasset 
River, in Adamsville. I used to go into the south-east corner of the 
building and transact my business there, because I was told and be- 
lieved, and it was generally believed, that that corner was in Massachu- 
setts. This building is now thrown entirely into Rhode Island, and I 
should judge that the south-east corner is twenty feet from the line, as 
established by the commissioners of 1847, to the nearest point. 

NATHAN C. BROWNELL. 

Bristol, ss. — February 28, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Nathan C. Brownell, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Conunis si oners. 



I, James H. Taber, of Little Compton, in the state of Rhode Island, 
do, upon oath, testify, that when the surveyors run out the straight line 
to the ocean, before the state commissioners came on to set up the 
monuments, it threw my house into Massachusetts. I told them that I 
wanted to be left in Rhode Island, and gave my reasons for it. When 
Commissioners Branch and Lawrence came on, I renewed my request 
to Judge Branch. Mr, Lawrence sat in the gig, and I had no conver- 



112 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

sation with him. They had cut two paths through my wood, and I 
told Hodges, the surveyor, I would not ask any damages, if they would 
leave me in Rhode Island, where I wanted to be. 

I am told, and believe, that if a straight line be run from the monument 
atSanford's, which the commissioners set up, to Peaked Rock, it would 
throw the whole of my house into Massachusetts ; but the commis- 
sioners put up monuments, which make a crooked line, and leave me 
in Rhode Island. 

I did not make any request to Judge Branch, but he began the con- 
versation, and said, " I am going to throw you back into Compton." 

JAMES H. TABER. 

Bristol, ss. — February 28, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named James H. Taber, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Conunissioner. 



I, Ephraim W. Brownell, of Adamsville, in the town of Little 
Compton, in the state of Rhode Island, do, upon oath, testify, that 
Judge Branch and Myron Lawrence came to my house in December 
last, with surveyors and laborers. They told me they had put up some 
monuments south of my place. It was a cold unpleasant day. Mr. 
Lawrence did not go out that day, to my knowledge, to seethe fixing of 
the monument nearest to my house on the mill-dam. I went out at the 
request of Judge Branch, brought to me by one of his men, and 
showed him where I understood the reputed line was. The mon- 
ument, which they put up, I should think, is from three to six feet east 
of what I consider the reputed line. 

The line, established by the surveyors of 1847, varies from the straight 
line. From some measurements I have assisted in making, I should 
think the new line runs, in some places, two hundred feet east of 
the straight line. There is a considerable large crook in the line be- 
tween this place and the ocean, as the monuments are. 

Mr. Lawrence told me that, after looking the whole matter over as 
well as he could, he would not pay the expenses of establishing the 
line for all the disputed territory. The talk was, that there was about 
six thousand acres between the true and the reputed line. 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 113 

I told the surveyors, who attended the commissioners, that I could 
show them an old monument in the woods, about half a mile from my 
house, which purported to be a corner-bound between Little Compton 
and Tiverton, and on the line with Westport. I never was called upon 
to show it, and I have no reason to believe it was ever visited by the 
commissioners or surveyors. 

EPHRAIM W. BROWNELL. 

Bristol, ss. — February 28, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Ephraim W. Brownell, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Comviissioner. 



I, Elisha W. Bucklin, of Pawtucket, in the county of Bristol, Mas- 
sachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am forty years of age, and 
that I was a deputy-sheriff in said county, from the years 1833 to 
1843, or thereabouts. I do not know that I ever had occasion to 
serve any kind of process between high and low water mark ; but I 
can say that I should have served process within that line, if I had 
been so ordered. I have heard it said sometimes that the Rhode 
Island line extended up to high-water mark ; but have also heard it 
denied. 

I never heard or knew of any officers from Rhode Island serving 
process on this side the river at all — nor of any acts of jurisdiction ex- 
ercised on this side by Rhode Island. 

ELISHA W. BUCKLIN. 

Bristol, ss. — February 29, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Elisha W. Bucklin, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him signed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, William Allen, of Pawtucket, in the county of Bristol, Massachu- 
setts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am sixty years of age. I have 
15 



114 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

been a resident in Pawtucket forty-seven years, ten of which was on 
the Rhode Island side. 

I have heard Mr. Slack, Mr. Starkweather, and other old people, 
frequently speak, in former times, about the boundary line. They 
used to say that, when the line should be settled from the abutment 
north, it would be a due north line, and it would throw the old Slater 
mill into Massachusetts. 

I never knew nor heard of Rhode Island exercising, or claiming, any 
jurisdiction up to high-water mark, on this side of the river at Paw- 
tucket. 

I have been an assessor in Pawtucket for thirteen years past. There 
are several wharves, and some factories, that extend below high-water 
mark, which have been always taxed, so far as I know, in Massachu- 
setts, and the taxes have been paid without objection. It would be 
extremely difficult now to ascertain where high-water mark is, on ac- 
count of the filling up of flats, making land, and other improvements. 
1 should think that the wharves below the falls, which have been here- 
tofore taxed in Massachusetts, and are now thrown into Rhode Island, 
by the new line, are worth eight or ten thousand dollars. 

There is a house and some land, of which I was once part-owner, 
which was always taxed in Massachusetts, and which I always consid- 
ered to be in that state, which is, by the line recently run, thrown into 
Rhode Island, as I am informed. It is situated at Central Falls. 

WILLIAM ALLEN. 

Bristol, ss. — February 29, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named William Allen, and made oath to the truth of the fore- 
going deposition, by him signed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner, 



I, Squire French, of Pawtucket, in the county of Bristol, Massa- 
chusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am sixty-seven years of age, and 
have resided here thirty-seven years, — four of them on the Rhode Isl- 
and side. 

I always understood, from old people, that the boundary line from 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 115 

the abutment of the bridge was a due north line ; and that it would 
go through the old Jenks house. 

I have been an assessor here, occasionally, since 1829. We have 
always assessed a tax on all the property this side the river, below the 
falls. I never knew nor heard of Rhode Island taxing it, or exercising 
any jurisdiction here on this side of the river. 

I am well acquainted with the shore from this place to Bullock's 
Neck, and I should say that the value of the land transferred to Rhode 
Island, by the new line, would be at least half a million of dollars. The 
land above the falls that lies east of a due north line, and which is 
given to Rhode Island by the line lately run by the commissioners, 
together with the buildings and improvements, is very valuable, — worth 
more than a million of dollars. 

I have, within the last two years, seen one or two buildings at Cen- 
tral Falls, which were always taxed in Pawtucket. By the new line, 
one of them, and I think both, are thrown into Rhode Island. 

When Pawtucket Bridge was rebuilt, in 1829, a subscription was 
got up on both sides of the river. Several hundred dollars were sub- 
scribed for the purpose on this side. 

I own a part of a large stone mill, in Pawtucket. The report of the 
commissioners runs round the base of the mill, though this does not 
appear to be authorized by the agreement between the commissioners. 
We have lately been putting up a foundation wall, for the purpose of 
increasing the size of the mill. This addition falls into Rhode Island 
by the new line. 

SaUIRE FRENCH. 

Bristol, ss. — February 29, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Squire French, and made oath to the truth of the forego- 
ing deposition, by him signed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, James S. Brown, of Pawtucket, in the county of Bristol, Massa- 
chusetts, aged forty-five years, do, upon oath, testify, that I am part- 
owner of Bucklin's Island, in Seekonk River. My deeds of the island 



116 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

were recorded in Taunton; one as late as February, 1847. I always 
considered it as being in Massachusetts, and have been taxed for it there. 
It was never taxed any where else that I know of. It is a valuable bed 
of clay, and I have had bricks manufactured there. I consider it a 
valuable property. 

I never heard or knew that Rhode Island ever claimed or exercised 
any right or jurisdiction on the east side of the river, or on the 
island. 

Between the island and the east side of the river, is a large quantity 
of valuable salt-marsh, — say fifteen or twenty acres, which is over- 
flowed at high tide. 

The channel of the river at the island is very near the western shore 
of the river. 

Mr. Jacob Bunnell's wharf, in Pawtucket, extends out beyond low- 
water mark, and has always been taxed in Massachusetts. It is a val- 
uable wharf. 

I have been acquainted with the shore from Bullock's Neck to the 
falls, for a number of years, and I always supposed it belonged to Mas- 
sachusetts. I never heard any thing to the contrary, nor that Rhode 
Island ever claimed or exercised any jurisdiction on the east side. I 
never heard of an application made to the legislature of Rhode Island 
for liberty to build a wharf on the east side. 

There is a valuable factory at Beverage Brook, called the Ingraham 
Factory, which stands partly above, and partly below, high-water mark. 
I should think two thirds of the west side of it lies below high-water 
mark. The line of high-water mark has been changed by filling up, 
within a few years. The factory was always considered as being in 
Massachusetts. 

It is an extremely difficult thing, now, to ascertain where the line of 
high-water mark anciently was, and is a constantly increasing diffi- 
culty, by reason of changes and improvements, 

JAMES S. BROWN. 

Bristol, ss. — February 29, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named James S. Brown, and made oath to the truth of the fore- 
going deposition, by him signed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

CoriDnissioner. 



]818.] SENATE— No. 128. 117 

I, John H. Potter, of Pawtucket, in the county of Bristol, Massa- 
chusetts, aged forty years, do, upon oath, testify, that I am one of the 
selectmen of Pawtucket. I have resided in this town twenty years. 

I always supposed all the shore on this side, from high to low water 
mark, below the falls, to belong to Massachusetts. I never heard or 
knew of Rhode Island claiming or exercising any jurisdiction on this 
side. 

I am acquainted with the shore and flats between the falls and the 
line of Seekonk. I mean, all that lying in Pawtucket ; and I should 
estimate the said flats, the wharves, and parts of factories lying be- 
tween high and low water mark, at about fifty thousand dollars. 

I think it would be injurious to the trade and the interests of this 
town, to have the shore owned by Rhode Island or placed under its ju- 
risdiction. 

It is impossible to tell where the line of high-water mark formerly 
was, and such a line would, I should think, give rise to many disputes 
about jurisdiction. It is becoming more and more difficult every day, 
to determine the line of high-water mark. I own part of a factory 
which stands partly below high-water mark. The commissioners have 
not run their line round the base of this factory. I have always sup- 
posed the said factory to be within the limits of Massachusetts. It has 
always been so taxed. 

JOHN H. POTTER. 

Bristol, ss. — February 29, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named John H. Potter, and made oath to the truth of the fore- 
going deposition, by him signed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, ■ 

Commissioner. 



I, William W, Walker, of Pawtucket, in the county of Bristol, 
Massachusetts, do, upon oath, testify, that I am fifty-eight years of age. 
I have resided on both sides of the river. I never knew nor heard of 
Rhode Island taxing any thing on this side the river, below^the falls, 
or exercising any jurisdiction whatever. 

Some time between 1830 and 1840, the body of a child was found 
below high-water mark, on the eastern side of Seekonk River, near 



118 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

Bucklin's Island, I was there when it was found. A message was 
sent to Providence, for a coroner to come over and hold an inquest. 
My impression is, that they would not do any thing about it, and a 
jury was summoned by Ezra French, of Seekonk, composed of citi- 
zens of Massachusetts. 

I remember the looks of the land above the falls, when I was a boy. 
There were no buildings, except the old stone chimney-house, north 
of the falls, east of a due north line and west of the Blackstone River. 

There was an iron bolt put into a ledge of rocks on the west side 
of the river, near the old snuff-mill, which I often saw when I was a 
boy, which used to be called the boundary of the state line. 

The land lying east of a due north line, and west of Blackstone 
River, is now covered with buildings, which have all been erected 
since my remembrance. 

WILLIAM W. WALKER. 

Bristol, ss. — February 29, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named William W. Walker, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, Amos A. Tillinghast, of Pawtucket, in the county of Bristol, 
Massachusetts, aged fifty-five years, do, upon oath, testify, that I have 
lived in Pawtucket thirty-two years. I have served as an assessor 
twelve or fifteen years. All the property on this side the river has 
always been taxed, so far as I know, in Massachusetts. I never knew 
nor heard of its being taxed in Rhode Island. I mean the property 
below the falls. I never knew nor heard of Rhode Island exercising 
any jurisdiction whatever on this side the river. 

I own some flats on the east side of the river, and have been nego- 
tiating with a man to build me a wharf there. If the shore to high- 
water mark should be transferred to Rhode Island, it would be exces- 
sively annoying to us. I own part of a wharf with Mr, Edward 
Walcott and others, which lies partly between high and low water 
mark. In my opinion, it would be a very great injury to the trade 
and interests of this town, and the owners of the property along the 
shore, to have the line of Rhode Island extend up to high-water mark. 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 119 

There would be several persons, whose property would be in Rhode 
Island and their counting-rooms in Massachusetts. 

There are nine or ten cotton-mills between a due north line, from 
the falls and the Blackstone River ; and I should say, the territory is 
worth from half a million to a million of dollars. The first factory 
ever built in the United States, as I was informed by my father, and 
which is still standing, called Slater's Factory, was built in Massachu- 
setts. My father told me he was a member of the legislature of Mas- 
sachusetts when Mr. Slater applied for a remission of taxes on it. 
By the line, as established by the commissioners in 1847, the factory is 
thrown into Rhode Island. The factory was built, as I suppose, about 
1795. The other factory, built by Mr. Slater, on the east side of the 
river, called the White Mill, was erected about 1804 or 1805, as I 
was told, — certainly after 1800. 

In 1828, the Pawtucket Bridge was rebuilt. A subscription was 
opened on both sides. The bridge cost about twenty-five or six hun- 
dred dollars, and full one half was raised on this side the river. I 
think the town of North Providence voted one thousand dollars, and 
three hundred was raised by subscription on that side. About thir- 
teen hundred dollars was raised by subscription on this side. 

A. A. TILLINGHAST. 

Bristol, ss. — February 29, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named Amos A. Tillinghast, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition by him signed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, James C. Starkweather, of Pawtucket, in the county of Bristol, 
Massachusetts, aged fifty years, do, upon oath, testify, that I have al- 
ways resided in said Pawtucket, and am well acquainted with the shore 
from this place to Bullock's Neck. The lands between high and low 
water mark, are a valuable property, and are increasing in value. 

I never knew nor heard of Rhode Island exercising any acts of 
jurisdiction on this side the river. It was always supposed to belong 
to Massachusetts. It has always been taxed in Massachusetts. 

The line to high-water mark here would be extremely inconvenient 



120 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

to our citizens, and it would be difficult in many places to ascertain 
where it is. 

After I had ascertained the line which the commissioners had run 
out, and found that it run through ray factory, leaving a part in Massa- 
chusetts and a part in Rhode Island, I met the two Rhode Island 
commissioners in Boston, and objected to this running, and pointed 
out its inconvenience to me. I afterwards saw Mr. Lawrence, and 
made the same remonstrance to him. The report was changed, and 
the line was subsequently run around the base of the factory, so that 
it lies all in Massachusetts. I was then a member of the governor's 
council. The line as now established runs through the Ingraham 
Factory. 

In my opinion, if the boundary line between the states could be 
established above the falls in the centre of the river, and the centre of 
the river below the falls to Bullock's Neck was also established, it 
would be perfectly just to Rhode Island, and would be perfectly satis- 
factory to all the people of Massachusetts along the boundary. 

I never heard that Rhode Island claimed up to high-water mark 
below the falls, until the commissioners made their report. 

JAS. C. STARKWEATHER. 

Bristol, ss. — February 29, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named James C. Starkweather, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him subscribed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, Israel A. Lee, of Pawtucket, in the county of Bristol, Massachu- 
setts, aged forty-eight years, do, upon oath, testify, that I know the 
monument erected by the commissioners for establishing the boundary 
line between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, on the east end of Paw- 
tucket Bridge, of marble. I have seen it within tvvo hours, and have 
paced off the distance from it to the abutment of the bridge underneath, 
in a north-westerly direction. I should think the distance is from ten 
to fifteen feet east of the old stone abutment of the bridge. 

ISRAEL A. LEE. 

Bristol, ss. — February 29, 1848. Then personally appeared the 



184S.] SENATE— No. 128. 121 

above-named Israel A. Lee, and made oath to the truth of the fore- 
going deposition, by liim subscribed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I, John B. Read, of Pawtucket, in the county of Bristol, Massachu- 
setts, aged forty-six years, do, upon oath, testify, that I was one of the 
selectmen of Pawtucket, for several years, some eight or ten years ago. 
I assisted in running out the town lines once. I received information 
from Elijah Ingraham, an aged man, who had been frequently one of the 
selectmen, and had often run the line. He told me to be very particu- 
lar, when I made my returns, after we came down to the last stone, 
which sets in the bank of the Blackstone River, to run the same course 
to the Rhode Island line. I think he said this was the way it had al- 
ways been run. In thus running the line, we actually run up to the 
east bank of the Blackstone River, and to the Rhode Island line in the 
report only, because we did not know where the Rhode Island line 
was. I was told that it was on the other side of the river, but it was 
uncertain where it was. The line I speak of was between Attlebo- 
rough and Pawtucket. 

I always understood that the true line between the two states, was 
a due north line from the east abutment of the bridge, and that the 
line we run would intersect it, if extended across the river. 

JOHN B. READ. 

Bristol, ss. — February 29, 1848. Then personally appeared the 
above-named John B. Read, and made oath to the truth of the fore- 
going deposition, by him subscribed. 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 



I annex, hy^ request of the deponent, an extract from the town rec- 
ords, showing in what manner the town line was run. 

H. G. O. COLBY. 

Extract from the report of the selectmen of Attleborough and Paw- 
16 



122 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

tucket, in perambulating the line between the two towns, on the 24th 
day of March, 1841, as copied from the town records of Pawtucket. 

" Thence continuing the same course fifty-three rods, crossing be- 
tween the Samuel Slack house, (so called,) and well, to the road 
leading to Central Falls, and there we erected a stone on the south- 
easterly side of said road — thence north 89° 45" west one hundred 
and nineteen rods, to a stone erected on the easterly bank of Paw- 
tucket River near a small brook that runs into said river — thence con- 
tinuing the same course to the line of Rhode Island State." 

A true extract from the records. 

Attest, ALVIN O. READ, 

Town Cleric of Pawtucket. 



I, Edward Walcott, of Providence, in the state of Rhode Island, do, 
upon oath, testify, that I was formerly a resident in Pawtucket, Massa- 
chusetts. 

In the year 1827, or '8, I drew a map, from the minutes of Mr. 
Sanford, the surveyor, in reference to a proposed division of the town 
of Seekonk, and the object of it was to define the boundaries of the 
proposed new town of Pawtucket. The town of Pawtucket was soon 
afterwards incorporated according to the said running. The map hereto 
annexed, is a substantially correct copy of the map which I made. 

I left Pawtucket in 1839. While I resided there, I always supposed 
that all the shore and flats on the east side of the river, below the 
falls, belonged to Massachusetts, and I never heard any thing to the 
contrary, and I never knew or heard of Rhode Island claiming or ex- 
ercising jurisdiction on this side. 

I own some property between high and low water mark. It appears 
to me that, if the boundary line is old high-water mark — that is, where 
the tide flowed before any made lands or other improvements altered 
it, it will lead to endless litigation. I own part of a wharf, which lies 
partly between high and low water mark. 

The map annexed is correct as far as it goes. It is correct all 

above the falls, but does not contain the whole town oi Pawtucket as 

mine did. 

EDW. WALCOTT. 

Bristol, ss. — February 29th, 1848. Then personally appeared the 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 123 

above-named Edward Walcott, and made oath to the truth of the 
foregoing deposition, by him signed, 

Before me, H. G. O. COLBY, 

Commissioner. 

I hereto annex the map herein referred to. 

H. G. O. COLBY. 



There is a very aged gentleman, living in North Providence, named 
Pardon Jenks, who knows that, previously to the year 1800, probably 
in 1794, a dam was erected above the fulls by Moses Brown, Oziel 
Wilkinson, and others. Certain persons, who occupied the privilege 
below, feeling themselves aggrieved, went on and tore away the dam at 
the western end, ^. e., on the western side of the river. The persons 
are said to have been the Jenkses, who were inhabitants of Rhode 
Island. They were sued in the courts of Bristol County, and it is said 
that judgment was recovered against them for damages and costs. 

There was also a suit between Elijah Ingraham and others, respect- 
ing an island in the Blackstone River, which was tried in the courts of 
Bristol County. The result was, that the island was divided between 
the litigating parties. This was about twenty years ago. 

The above information was given to me by several persons, as hear- 
say, and is forwarded to the committee, as it may enable them to ascer- 
tain the facts by a reference to the records remaining in the courts at 
Taunton. 

H. G. O. COLBY, Commissioner. 

March 1, 1848. 



APPENDIX F. 

2o the Honorable Senate and the House of Representatives of the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled : 

Beriah Brown, of the town of Fall River, in the county of Bristol, 
in said Commonwealth, aged seventy-one years, respectfully repre- 
sents : — 

That, about fourteen years since, he purchased a lot of land in said 



124 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 

town of Fall River, within the then acknowledged limits and under 
the jurisdiction of this Commonwealth ; that, soon afterwards, with his 
son, he erected thereon a convenient dwelling-house, in which, with 
his aged wife, he has hoped to reside during the remainder of his 
days; that he has, from the time of his said purchase, continued to pay 
taxes for his said house and lot, in said Fall River, and not elsewhere ; 
and that he has contributed his full proportion for the erection of 
schoolhouses, and other public buildings in said town. 

But your petitioner is informed that a line, which has recently been 
marked, by the erection of stone monuments, as the boundary line be- 
tween this Commonwealth and the state of Rhode Island, has been 
agreed to, as such boundary, by a majority of the commissioners ; and, 
by this line, his dwelling-house is set off from Massachusetts, and in- 
cluded within the boundaries of Rhode Island. Now your petitioner 
declares, that, if the true boundary line between the two states, when 
ascertained and established according to the principles of public law 
and justice, shall include his dwelling-house within the state of Rliode 
Island, he will submit without a murmur to the sacrifice which they 
demand of him. But your petitioner has long enjoyed, in safety and 
tranquillity, the blessings of life under the stable institutions and bene- 
ficent laws of this Commonwealth ; his children have had and im- 
proved the privileges and advantages for education, and moral and re- 
ligious instruction, secured by our constitution and laws; and he has 
kept, as a cherished hope and expectation, that the same advantages 
would be the inheritance of his children's children. If, therefore, up- 
on the principles of justice and public law, the line, thus marked by 
monuments, is not the true line betwen the states, your petitioner 
prays that it may not be ratified by the legislature of Massachusetts ; 
and he claims of the Commonwealth that protection of his just rights 
and privileges, to which, as one of her citizens, he is entitled, and 
which he confidently trusts and believes she will never refuse or neg- 
lect to give. And as in duty bound will ever believe and pray. 

BERIAH BROWN. 
By the hand of his daughter, 

Sarah Brown. 

Fall River, January 6th, 1848. 



ISIS.] SENATE— No. 128. 125 

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Represen'at'^"^' of the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled : — 

Joseph D. Brown, of the town of Fall River, and county of Bristol, 
in said Commonwealth, respectfully represents : — 

That, about fourteen years since, he, with his father, purchased a 
lot of land in said town of Fall River, within the then acknowledged 
limits, and under the actual jurisdiction, of this Commonwealth; that, 
shortly after his purchase, he erected thereon a convenient dwelling- 
house : that, from the time of his said purchase, he has continued to 
pay taxes for his said house and lot, in said town of Fall River, and 
not elsewhere ; and that, in said town, he has contributed his full pro- 
portion for the erection of schoolhouses, and other public buildings. 
But your petitioner is informed that a majority of the commissioners, 
on the part of this state, have agreed to a line as the boundary between 
this Commonwealth and the state of Rhode Island; and this line has 
recently been marked, by some persons, by the erection of stone mon- 
uments thereon. By the line thus marked, the dwelling-house of your 
petitioner is set off from Massachusetts, and included within the bound- 
aries of the state of Rhode Island. Now, if the true boundary line 
between the two states, when ascertained and established, in accord- 
ance with the principles of justice and public law, shall include his 
dwelling-house and land, within the state of Rhode Island, — your pe- 
titioner declares that he will submit, without a murmur, to the sacrifice 
which is demanded : but he has " enjoyed in safety and tranquillity the 
blessings of life " under the constitution and laws of the Common- 
wealth ; — he sets a high value upon the advantages for uiteliectual ed- 
ucation, and moral and religious instruction which are the rich inher- 
itance of her children; and, if the line, thus marked by monuments, 
is not the true line between the states, your petitioner trusts and be- 
lieves that it will never be ratified by a Massachusetts legislature ; and 
he claims that protection of his just rights which the state_ owes, and 
will always give, to the humblest of its citizens. 

JOSEPH D. BROWN. 
Fall River, January 6th, 1848. 



126 BOUNDARY LINE. [April, 



To the Honorable the Senate, and House of Representatives of the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled: — 

Abner L. Westgate, of the town of Fall River and county of Bris- 
tol, in said Commonwealth, respectfully represents, that, about fifteen 
years since, he purchased a lot of land in the then village of Fall River ; 
that, soon afterwards, he erected thereon a convenient dwelling-house ; 
that, from the time of his said purchase, he has continued to pay taxes 
for his said house and lot in said town of Fall River ; that he has 
been elected to, and served in, the office of assessor in said town, and 
has contributed his proportion to the erection of schoolhouses, and 
other public buildings therein. He desires that his surviving children 
should enjoy the privileges and advantages which are secured to her 
children by the constitution and lus of M i^s husetts. His sym- 
pathies are with her institutions and people. His place of public wor- 
ship and the burying-place of his deceased wife and children, are in her 
soil. Yet, if the line which is said to have been agreed upon by a majority 
of the existing board of commissioners, and which has been marked by 
the erection of stone monuments thereon in anticipation of the ratifica- 
tion of the legislature, shall, according to principles of equity and public 
law, appear to be the true boundary line between the states, although it 
sets off his dwelling-house and lot from Massachusetts, and includes 
them in Rhode Island, he will submit without complaint to the sacrifice 
which is demanded of him. But not only has your petitioner's dwell- 
ing-house always been within the actual jurisdiction of Massachusetts, 
but the original patent to the Plymouth colonists brought the place 
where it stands several miles within the boundaries of that colony, and 
it is unquestionable that the line, as established, and most clearly 
defined, by the royal commissioners of 1741, confirmed by the king in 
council, in 1746; the line agreed by all the commissioners of both 
states to be perambulated and ascertained as the true line between the 
states in 1791, as appears by their joint report made in accordance 
with the provisions of the legislative acts of both the states, will bring 
your petitioner's dwelling-house more than a quarter of a mile within 
the boundaries of the Commonwealth ; he therefore prays that the 
recent agreement of a majority of the commissioners, and especially 
that the act of setting up monuments as aforesaid, in anticipation of 
the action of this legislature relating to said line, may not be ratified ; 



184S.] 



SENATE— No. 128. 



127 



and he claims that protection of his just rights, which he trusts and 
believes that this Commonwealth will never refuse promptly and 
effectually to give to him, as one of her citizens. 



ABNER L. WESTGATE. 



Fall River, January 6th, 1848. 



To the Honorable Senate and the House of Representatives in General 
Court assembled: — 

The undersigned, inhabitants of the town of Fall River, in the 
county of Bristol, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, respectfully 
pray, that no part of the territory within the rightful boundaries of this 
Commonwealth may be alienated therefrom to the state of Rhode 
Island by the voluntary act of the legislature of Massachusetts ; and 
they do especially protest against allowing the erection of monuments 
upon any proposed line, in anticipation of the decision of the legisla- 
ture, to prejudice the just rights of this town, the Commonwealth, or 
the citizens thereof; — and as in duty bound will ever protest and 
pray. 



Richard Borden, 
I. Borden, 
Thos. Burch, 
Wm. P. Goodrum, 
Charles Hodgats, 
George \V. Reed, 
Robert E. Barnett, 
John Standing, 
Allen C. Slade, 
Philip D. Borden, 
Otis Lincoln, 
Seth Borden, 
Isaac Borden, 
C. A. Wallace, 
Nathan S. Brown, 
Job B. French, 
James \V. Luther, 
Apollos Dunn, 
Cutler Hatch, 



Samuel Shove, 
Clark Crandall, 

0. J. Holmes, 
Wm. Atkinson, 
Wm. II. Brightman, 
John Dyer, 

Edwin H. Simmonds, 

1. H. Archer, 
Leander Borden, 
Moses Landon, 
Wm. S. Read, 

B. W. Hathaway, 
Henry Potter, 
Anthony Morse, 
Leonard Wood, 
Thos. J. Pickering, 
Benjamin S. Shove, 
Jamea Ford, 2d, 
Henry Dyer, 



Henry L. Buffinton, 
F. W. Anthony, 
Thomas Wdcox, 
M. S. Chace, 
J. C. Peckham, 
Jervis Shove, 

C. L. Blake, 
P. R. Russell, 
L. L. Barnard, 
Samuel R. Benjamin, 
Ebnr. T. Learned, 
John Russell, 
Jonathan Slade, 
Daniel H. Grinnell, 
J. M. Strobridge, 

E. E. Strobridge, 

D. A. Brayton, 
Geo. W. Stevens, 
Geo. Darracott, Jr. 



128 



BOUNDARY LINE. 



[April, 



Albert S. Clark, 
Ellis Gifford, 
S. H. Miller, 
Hiram Horton, 
John Hull, 

F. D. Blake, 
A. Eames, 
H. E. Swan, 
Stephen Shove, 
Joseph C. Anthony, 
Joseph R. Hathaway, 
Ransom Underhill, 
William Gilmore, 
Benoni T. Chase, 
Squire Davis, 

Ezra H. Winchester, 
H. N. Gunn, 
Benj. F. Winslow, 
Joseph E. Chace, 
Isaac Horton, 
Valentine Mason, 
J. G. Hathaway, 
James D. Hathaway, 
Richmond Davol, 
Wm. H. A. Crary, 
Henry Pratt, 
P. R. Read, 

G. W. Towle, 
Elijah Wilbur, 
Edward Jennings, 
Rhesa Bronson, 
King Dean, 
Levi Wood, 

Jas. O. Dean, 
Rodman S. Sherman, 
William H. F. Chace, 
John E. Carr, 
J. Lee Newton, 
Holder W. Chace, 
Charles S. Kirby, 
James B. Hathaway, 
Ara Retby, Jr. 
Caleb G. Anthony, 
Z. T. Briirffs, 



B. F. Briggs, 
E. Warren, 
Alanson Cobb, 
John Parry, 
Francis B. Hood, 
Asa Bronson, 
Robert Adams, 
Thomas D. Allen, 
Nathaniel Hinckley, 
Thomas Burbank, 
Charles Almy, 
Richard C. French, 

A. W. Dillingham, 

C. W. Tiliinghast, 
John T. Brightman, 
David Dyer, 
Charles O. Clough, 
George Taylor, 

J, T. Bassett, 
Hiram Bliss, 
John W. Miller, 
James L. Bliss, 
James Loud, 
Geo. H. Lawton, 
G. C. Blaisdcll, 
Geo. W. Gibbs, 
Francis C. Rodman, 
R(i' ert S. Gibbs, 
Benj. F. Simmons, 

B. F. King, 
James Langan, 
Gideon Gray, 
S. B. Mayhew, 
Joseph E. Read, Jr. 
Joshua Smith, 
Robert Vigors, 

P. W. Leland, 
Azariah Shove, 
John Gilbert, 
James Shearman, 
Nicholas Crapo, 
Caleb B. Vickary, 
Chas. N. Tobey, 
J. Wilson Dix, 



B. Ward well, 
John T. Weaver, 
Nicholas Aspden, 
Joseph Ward, 
Ebenezer Millard, Jr. 
Henry Peck, 
John O. Milne, 
Geo. P. Robertson, 
Nathaniel Pierce, 
J. P. Sisson, 
Levi B. Chace, 
Wm. J. Mclnlyre, 
Benj. T. Chace, 
Isaiah P. Pope, 
Warren Carpenter, 
Joseph Estes, 
Thomas T. Potter, 
Richard W. Batt, 
Frederick A. Fiske, 
Frederic A. Anthony, 
James G. Bruce, 
Stephen T. Noriham, 
Horace Grinnell, 
Thomas F. Eddy, 
E. P. Buffinton, 
Oliver H. Hathaway, 
Cornelius McAuley, 
Abraham Almy, 
George White, 
Ebenezer Maxon, 
Benj. H. Roberts, 
A. C. Thomson, 
Samuel C. Sherman, 
Patrick Wallace, 
Aaron J. Dunn, 
Lorenzo T. Miller, 
William Stillwell, 
Sam'l Arnold, 
E. G. Macomber, 
L F. Westgate, 
Israel Gardner, 
Henry Dimaii, Jr. 
Wm. Diirtee, 
Lloyd Chase, 



1S48. 



SENATE— JNo. 128. 



129 



Benjamin A. Waite, 
George G. Swift, 
George Broughton, 
John B. Chace, 
A. P. Brownell, 
Charles Wood, 
Benj. T. Young, 
Daniel Leonard, 
David T. Wilcox, 
Charles H. Lewis, 
Thomas E. Brightmer, 
Richard Murphy, 
George O. Fairbanks, 
Obadiah Chace, 
William Borden, 
George W. Bucklin, 
W. E. Arnold, 
O. D. Shemar, 
G. W. Johnson, 
G. W. Thomas, 
Samuel Hicks, 
Charles Aldrich, 
Wesson Smith, 
William Young, 
Wm. E. Copeland, 
Lewis W. Carpenter, 
William Munday, 
Francis B. Read, 
Cyrus Alden, 
Joel F. Raynsford, 
William G. Shannon, 
James Brady, 
Earl Chace, 
Ilanan W. Brightman, 
Wm. E. Battay, 
Henry O. Dean, 
Benjamin F. Dean, 
Warren Runnels, 
Sanford S. Horton, 
John P. Russell, 
George N. Chace, 
Jos. S. Barnard, 
Edward Buffinton, 
John H. Borden, 

17 



David Cony, 
A. S. Newell, 
Benj. Brooks, 
Thomas R. Hubbard, 
Ezra Fuller, 
Isaac O. Pierce, 
Calvin Denham, 
Edward Manley, 
Colin McKenzie, 
Sam'l D. Godfrey, 
Mason Horton, 
William Penn, 
Elijah B. Almy, 
James F. Davol, 
A. O. Hall, 
Gardner Groves, 
Lewis Whiting, 
Joseph Marropestes, 
Foster Hooper, 
Stephen Borden, 
John B. Houghton, 
Barnabas C. Rider, 
Samuel M. Luther, 
John Borden, 
William H. Holt, 
George W. Gifford, 
David C. Hillard, 
George S. Allen, 
John Westall, 
Thomas Corner, 
James Corner, 
James Henry, 
John R. Heath, 
Horace H. Brightman, 
Isaac Kinge, 
Geo. W. Read, 
Charles B. Weaver, 
William V. Read, 
Geo. H. Bosworth, 
Francis B. Winslow, 
Eben. Luther, Jr. 
Charles Kinsley, 
J. F. Lindsey, 
A. Shove Tripp, 



Edward Hathaway, 
Charles Seward, 
William Sisson, 
William C. Fales, 
Henry Willard, 
Edward Thurston, 
Danforth Horton, 
Lucas C. Young, 
J. B. Potter, 
Orin Shaw, 
Isaac Evans, 
Edwin Hawes, 
Hale Remington, 
Samuel L. Thaxter, 
William Butts, 
Lewis L. Arnold, 
Charles J. Tucker, 
W. M. Chase, 
Chas. H. Sisson, 
Wm. B. Wilber, 
John Mason, Jr. 
Artemas Willard, 
John D. Mason, 
John Read, 
Allen Peirce, 
John O. Presbrey, 
J. B. Bourne, 
Benjamin Earl, 
P. S. Brown, 
W. C. Strobridge, 
William Johnson, 
Samuel Gifford, 
Barnabas Blossom, 
Chas. A. Glazier, 
Thomas S. Anthony, 
William B. Mason, 
Wm. Chace, 
Stephen Davol, 
Lazarus Borden, 
James S. Warner, 
Chas. O. Shove, 
Clark Shove, 
Seth B. Durfee, 
Merchant Baker, 



130 



BOUNDARY LINE. 



[April, 



Darius Wilber, 
John S. Cotton, 
John Anthony, 
Allen Phillips, 
Thomas Read, 
A. B. Elsbree, 
J. B. Chase, 
Samuel R. Buffinton, 
Chas. II. Bush, 
Gideon Packard, 
James Terry, 
Abram Boomer, 
Luther Eames, 
A. S. C. Lawton, 
E. S. Comstock, 
Joseph Dudley, 
J. Williams, 
George G. Lyon, 
C. W. Greene, 
A. II. Pease, 

A. G. Eaton, 
Israel Anthony, 
E. Elsbree, 
Iram Smith, 

B. W. Woodman, 
Edward S. Chase, 
Samuel Johnston, 
Robert Thompson, 
Alexander Forbes, 
James Irving, 
James Buffington, 
Charles Morse, 
Jonathan Basset, 
Stephen L. French, 
John L. Sargent, 
A. L. Westgate, 
Philip Eltz, Jr. 
Walter Cobb, 
Josiah H. Pitman, 
Samuel Pitman, 
John Collins, 
Lewis H. Adams, 
Darius White, 

T. R. Blake, 



Nathan H. Skinner, 
Thomas S. Gifford, 
Perry GifFord, 
Samuel Allen, 
Chas. C. Halverson, 
Charles Coburn, 
Isaac H. Gray, 
M. A, Slocum, 
John Anthony, 
J. B. Elwell, 
John Pierce, 
Wm. P. Field, 
Daniel Child, 
Louis Lapham, 
Lloyd S. Earle, 
Wm. H. Hawkins, 
Major Wordell, 
John Haskell, 
Wright Carpenter, 
Edward C. Mason, 
John B. Blake, 
Wm. H. Howard, 
George Reynolds, 
Jacob B. Dunham, 
George Spencer, 
Henry Nickerson, 
Leonard Gorfield, 
Andreas McCorrie, 
George S. Baker, 
Charles Trafton, 
Jason Davis, 
James Brightman, 
Ira Clapp, 
Oliver A. Gager, 
S. H. Johnson, 
Benj. Buffinton, 
Dan. Still well, 
Richard S. Peckham, 
G. W, Barker, 
David Robertson, 
John P. Winchester, 
John B. Hathaway, 
Thomas Almy, 
John Lindsay, 



Nathan Read, 2d, 
Benjamin Durfee, 
Sewall Brackett, 
Geo. H. Fraprie, 
Edmund Chase, Jr. 
V, R. Hotchkiss, 
William Simms, 
Humphrey C. Ricketson, 
Jonathan Peckham, 
Benj. F. White, 
Joel Smith, 
G. H. Hathaway, 
J. M. Anthony, 
Jonathan Brownell, 2d, 
Elisha Carpenter, 
Jos. H. Lawton, 
James Holt, 
Russel Young, 
Jeremiah Brown, Jr. 
Oliver H. Bush, 
William D. Bush, 
Wm. R. Angell, 
Frederic P. Wrightington, 
Wilbur Read, 
Abel Borden, 
Vernon Thurston, 
T. W. Woods, 
John Godfrey, 
Richard Mitchell, 
Sam'l B. Hussey, 
H. H. Fish, 

D. L. Brigham, 
A. A. Eastwood, 
Frederick Borden, 

E. P. Ashley, 
Moses Dean, 
E. H. Chase, 
Hugh Gam, 
William Cole, 
Wm. W. Nye, 
John S. Collop, 
Durfee Bronson, 
Edwin C. Phillips, 
Wm. Valentine, 



1848.] 



SENATE— No. 128. 



J 31 



Henry Gilbert, 
Chas. E, Brownell, 
Seth Darling-, 
Howard B. Allen, 
Daniel Brown, 
Joseph Baker, 
Wm. H. Freeborn, 
T. R. Sisson, 
Geo. Munday, 
Francis Upton, 
Charles E. Nichols, 
Reuben P. Mason, 
J. B. Molan, 
Hiram Pierce, 
Haley Baker, 
Joseph Howard, 
Jeremiah Cranston, 



Stephen Hart, 
Thos. Ashbrook, 
Russell John, 
Geo. B. Church, 
D. Patten, Jr. 
Gideon Manchester, 
James McHugh, 
Anthony Chace, 
Wm. H. Ashley, 
F. E. Burch, 
Frederick Sears, 
Jabez T. Nye, 
Samuel Keenan, 
Francis Eddy, 
Alden Bradford, 
Benj. C. Luther, 
Michael Livsey, 



William M. Cook, 
Noel H. Tripp, 
Wm. Henry Mann, 
Samuel B. Allen, 
Elijah B. Smith, 
Moses Fifield, 
Gideon Allen, 
Robert K. Remington, 
Otis Manchester, 
Geo. W. Hazlehurst, 
Ellery W. Reed, 
Nathan D. Dean, 
Henry Richards, 
Wm. M. Almy, 
Thomas Ludwith. 



At a special meeting of the qualified voters of the town of Pawtucket, 
legally called and held, at the town-hall in said town, on Friday, 
February 4, 1848, the following order and protest were unanimously 
adopted : — 

Ordered, That the town-clerk make and certify two copies of this 
order and the following protest, and send one of them to the repre- 
sentative from this town, in the general court of this state, and one 
copy to one of the senators from Bristol County, with the request that 
they will present them to the respective branches of the legislature of 
which they are members. 

Protest. — Whereas it has been made known to the inhabitants of 
the town of Pawtucket, that commissioners, appointed by the state of 
Massachusetts, have made an agreement with the commissioners from 
Rhode Island, and reported the same to the government of this state 
for its confirmation, by which they agree to run a line northerly from 
Bullock's Neck, "on the easterly side of the river that runneth 
towards Providence, higher called Seekonk River, in the line of ordi- 
nary high-water mark, to Pawtucket Falls ;" and " from Pawtucket 
Falls, at a point on the easterly side thereof, the said line shall run 
northerly along the centre of the river to a point where a due south 
line, drawn from Burnt Swamp Corner," meets the river ; thence in a 



132 BOUNDARY LTNE. [April, 

due north line to said Burnt Swamp Corner, — and to make the same 
the dividing line between this Commonwealth and the state of Rhode 
Island, by which a part of it becomes the westerly line of this town : 
And whereas, by the confirmation of said line by the legislature, as 
the boundary line of this Commonwealth, this town will be deprived of 
an undisturbed jurisdiction over the flats on the easterly side of the 
Pawtucket River, extending back to the settlement of the country, 
and over all the wharves and other erections on the same side of said 
river, from the time when they were built, and which are of vast value 
to this town; by means whereof, the people of this town are likely to 
be deprived of the rights to maintain their wharves and to build new 
ones, and to protect and foster their own trade ; which will be vastly 
to the detriment of the people of this town, and also to this Common- 
wealth : And whereas, by the line agreed on by the commissioners 
aforesaid, north from Pawtucket Falls, this town will be deprived of 
the right to govern and tax property of nearly, or quite, a million dol- 
lars in value, and about fifteen hundred inhabitants, that as truly 
belong to, and lie with this town, as any of the remainder that has 
been left us : And whereas, no compensation is given to this town for 
her serious loss, or obtained by the Commonwealth for assenting 
thereto, while great injury is likely to result to both therefrom ; — 
therefore, the inhabitants of said town of Pawtucket respectfully and 
solemnly protest against the establishment, by the legislature of this 
Commonwealth, of the line recommended by said commissioners; that 
the ancient rights and jurisdiction of this town, and of this Common- 
wealth, may be left unimpaired ; that they may not be sent to a foreign 
court for redress of wrongs that they may suffer on our own shore of 
their great public highway; and that all the trade of their place may 
not be subjected to a jealous foreign legislature ; but, that they may be 
protected by the government of this Commonwealth in all our ancient 
rights and privileges. 

Attest, ALVIN O. REED, 

Town Cleric. 



To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled : — 
Whereas the true and just boundary line, between this state and the 

state of Rhode Island, contiguous to this town, is the middle or chan- 



1848.] SENATE— No. 128. 133 

nel of the Providence and Seekonk Rivers; and, whereas the majority 
of the present Massachusetts commissioners have agreed with the 
Rhode Island commissioners, to a line of ordinary high-water mark, on 
the easterly side of said rivers, — and, before the action of the general 
court could be had on said agreement, and the various petitions, and 
remonstrances, from this and the other towns on the line, have pro- 
ceeded to erect monuments in various parts of this town, not at high- 
water mark merely, but far above the same, so as to transfer the juris- 
diction of the whole river to Rhode Island, as well as a belt of territo- 
ry several rods in width, above and below high-water mark, on our 
whole western line, from the northwest to the southwest extremity, 
thereof, including several islands : — 

Therefore, Resolved, That this town, in town meeting assembled, 
do solemnly protest, and object to said agreement, the action of said 
commissioners, and the erection of monuments, wholly within and far 
upon the limits of this town and the territory of this Commonwealth. 

Resolved, That this extraordinary procedure of the majority of the 
commissioners, ought not to prejudice the general court in favor of the 
adoption of any other than the true line. 

Resolved, That Leonard Walker, Esq., representative of this town 
to the general court, be requested and instructed to use his utmost en- 
deavors to prevent the ratification of a line so manifestly unjust to the 
citizens of this and the neighboring towns, — and in direct contraven- 
tion of the just rights, the honor, and the dignity, of this Common- 
wealth. 

Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing preamble, and resolves, be 
signed by the moderator of this meeting, and, attested by the town 
clerk, be forwarded to the general court at the ensuing session. 

VIALL MEDBERY, 

Moderator. 

True copy, 

Attest— PRESERVED T. ABELL, 

Town Clerk of Seekonk. 
Seekonk, January 3, 1848. 



134 



BOUNDARY LINE. 



[April, 



To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled : — 

The subscribers, citizens of the town of Seekonk, repectfully rep- 
resent : — 

That, (in common with their fellow-citizens bordering on the state 
of Rhode Island,) their rights and interests are deeply involved in the 
determination and establishment of the boundary line between this 
Commonwealth and the state of Rhode Island, and especially so, in 
that part of the line from Pawtucket Falls to Bullock's Neck, and 
from thence to Munroe's Corner : that whereas, by the agreement 
of the majority of the present Massachusetts commissioners, with 
those of Rhode Island, a part of the town of Seekonk is given to the 
state of Rhode Island, as does appear from facts already before the 
public. Your petitioners, therefore, humbly pray that said agreement 
may not be ratified by the legislature of this Commonwealth. That 
your honorable body would take measures to assert, and secure, and 
maintain, the just rights of this state, by runnning and defining the 
true line ; and erect suitable monuments thereon, in conformity with 
the existing facts in the case, or submit the same to the decision of the 
supreme court of the United States, — as in duty bound, your peti- 
tioners will ever pray. 

Seekonk, January 1st, 1848. 



Viall Medbery, 
William Ida, 
Tristam Buries, 
Caleb Chaffee, 
Samuel Bede, 
Caleb Bolkcom, 
Noah Read, 
William Handy, 
Gardner Luther, 
Dexter W. Rea, 
John A. Hammond, 
Jonathan Brown, 
Caleb Bowen, 
Capt. Henry R. Howland, 
Nathan West, 
John T. Ingraham, 



Daniel Ide, 
Henry Mason, 
William Armington, 
Charles Pratt, 
Ira Chaffee, 
William Whitaker, 
Henry B. Goff, 
George Martin, 
Jonathan Bowers, 
Solomon Peck, Jr. 
Samuel Chaffee, 
Cyrus Chaffee, 
Josephus Read, 
Walker Chaffee, 
Calvin Martin, 
Cyrus Martin, 



Alpheus W. Flemington, 
Tristam Burges, Jr. 
John Gregory, 
Silas H. Handy, 
Livingston Hunt, 
George O. Carpenter, 
Wm. A. Carpenter, 
N. S. Judkins, 
William Sutton, 
Horatio Barney, 
Henry A. Sutton, 
John Whelden, 
William Daggett, 
Constant Viall, 
John Daggett, 
David R. Anthony, 



1848.] 



SENATE— No. 128. 



135 



William IT. Lake, 
Phanuel Bishop, 
Hezekiah Medbery, 
Charles T. Medbery, 
Darius Wheeler, 
William H. Heath, 
Rhubin Thurber, Jr. 
Wm. T. Cole, 
Thomas Medbery, 
Samuel A. Woods, 
Charles W. Lawton, 
Stephen Medbery, 
Nathan C. Lewis, 
Humphrey Kent, 
Francis Richmond, 
Anson Viall, 
Anthony L. Viall, 
Samuel L. Viall, 
William H. Peck, 
Learned Peck, 
Arnold R. Medbery, 
Benjamin Viall, 
Ebenezer B. Cole, 
Benjamin Allen, 
Zenas Brown, 
Lewis Walker, 
S. W. Thayer, 
Preserved T. Abell, 
Calvin J. Peck, 
F. H. Weld, 
Nathaniel Barney, 
Henry W. Charlton, 
Horatio Lesuer, 
Peleg H. Congdon, 
Almond O. Bourne, 
Loreng Cubing, 
Caleb Wake, 
Peter H. Brown, 
John Green, 
Samuel Kent, 
Wm. C. Richardson. 
Marcena C. Winn, 
Zebina W. Bourn, 
Dexter Bucklin, 



Daniel Bucklin, 
Cyrell Read, 
James M. Bishop, 
Thos. W. Aspinwall, 
Oliver Chaffee, 
Lewis Kenyon, 
John Barney, 
John A. Bennett, 
William Nicholas, 
William Burgess, 
Joseph Martin, 
John D. Welley, 
Nathan Hicks, 
Marcellus Ide, 
Jonathan P. Barney, 
Levi Grover, 
Lewis Wilcox, 
Jeremiah Wilcox, 
James Hudson, 
Thomas B. Wall, 
George Rice, 
George Allen, 
Geo. W, Wheaton, 
George A. Blackmer, 
Daniel T. Peck, 
Luther B. Peck, 
Henry H. Dexter, 
Joseph West, 
Stafford S. Short, 
John Humphrey, 
John Humphrey, Jr. 
Joseph C. Brown, 
Joseph B. Fitts, 
Asaph C. Chaffe, 
George W. Munroc, 
William Foster, 
Joseph C. Miller, 
Hiram Whitaker, 
Samuel Shove, 
O. C. Congdon, 
Joseph Field, Jr. 
Thomas Northop, 
Daniel Northop, 
Isaac Shove, 



Alfred Walker, 
Randal Martin, 
Ardin Abbott, 
William Ellis, 
Benjamin Walker, 
Samuel Allyn, 
Cyrill Carpenter, 
Nathaniel N. Allyn, 
Squier Lake, 
Albert E. Medbery, 
James Short, 
Sam'l Allen, 
Jacob Barney, 
Jacob W. Barney, 
Abell Chaffee, 
Calvin T. Wood, 
Abel Grant, 
Oliver West, 
Ephraim Ide, 
Jonathan Barney, 
Edmund Carpenter, 
Alba Kent, 
Augustus Hall, 
Bowen Sutton, 
George L. Sutton, 
Josiah Kent, 2d, 
Welcome T. Healy, 
John Cole, 

William H. Armington, 
Edwin H. Peck, 
Bela Peck, 
Reuben Thurber, 
Simeon Grant, 
Seth Wood, 
J. Alexander Wood, 
Daniel H. Wood, 
Perry Barney, 
Joshua Lathop, 
James Rodloff, 
Henry Ide, 
Elisha Padelford, 
William Hammond, 
Nath'l White, 
Samuel O. Case, 



136 



BOUNDARY LINE. 



[April 



Nathan O. Case, 
E. S. Merril, 
Paschal E. Wilmath, 
Tho's Cole, 2d, 
William Bishop, 
Isaac Reynolds, 
Valerius Westcot, 
Noah Bliss, 
George W. Maker, 
Erwin J. Baker, 
Virgil Kent, 
Erastus W. Woodward, 
Daniel Perrin, 
George Bowler, 
Seth Whitrnarsh, 



Joseph Wheaton, 
William Wheeler, 
Leonard Crossman, 
Amasa Olney, 
Hiram S. Gnft; 
Ezekiel F. Mowry, 
Alvah Chace, 
Leander Dunwell, 
George G. Chuosdn, 
Caleb Bliss, 
James L. Cobb, 
Asa Peck, 
Turner L. Wall, 
George Justin, 
John J. King, 



Willard C. Ormsbee, 
Justin Lincoln, 
F. P. Pearce, 
Philip Wood, 
C. C. Gushing, 
Nathan Smith, 
Samuel Smith, 
George Lake, 
Albert Lake, 
George C. West, 
Tomas Peirce, 
Job Allen, 
Samuel B. Allen. 



To the Honorable the Senate and Ho^ise of Representatives of the 
Commomccalth of 3Iassachiisctts : — 

We, the undersigned, inhabitants of Attleborough, and legal voters 
therein, respectfully represent: — 

That a line which has recently been marked, by the erection of 
stone monuments, as the boundary line between this state and Rhode 
Island, and has been agreed upon as such boundary by a majority of 
the commissioners, and also as being the boundary between this town 
and Cumberland, is manifestly unjust and wrong towards our citizens, 
by taking from them a strip of territory, some seven or eight miles in 
length, with a number of buildings and inhabitants on the same, and 
giving it and them to the state of Rhode Island. 

The line designated by the commissioners is not agreeable to any 
record heretofore made (known to the undersigned) between the 
states, nor to any former survey ever made, nor to any occupation 
ever had ; nor is any inconvenience removed, but the reverse. More- 
over, this town has always been bounded by the Blackstone or Paw- 
tucket river, and occupation has always been held to the same, ever 
since the town was incorporated. But the line marked by the com- 
missioners, in the event it receives the sanction of our legislature, will 
forever cut us off from said river, which the undersigned trust and 
hope will never be done by the legislature of this Commonwealth. It 



1848.] 



SENATE— No. 128. 



137 



also leaves a very ill-shaped territory between said line and said Black- 
stone river, almost useless to Rhode Island, but very valuable to this 
town. 

We, the undersigned, therefore, cannot have said commissioners' 
line adopted with our assent, but trust and hope that our just rights 
and privileges may not be disregarded, nor ceded away ; and, in this 
hope, we claim the protection of the legislature of the Commonwealth, 
to protect our rights, territory, and privileges, and which, we con- 
fidently believe, she will never refuse or disregard. 

Attleborough, March 13, 1848. 



Noah Claflin, 
Joseph W. Capron, 
William Games, 
Jacob S. Capron, 
Oren S. Horton, 
Amos Ide, 
Jonathan Bliss, 
A. M. Ide, Jr. 
James Hamilton, 
Wm. Carpenter, 
Rhodolphus Bliss, 
Virgil H. Capron, 
H. Capron, 
Nelson Smith, 
L. W. Dean, 
E. E. Fuller, 
Isaac B. Staples, 
Ralph Adams, 

A. C. Luther, 

B. H. Williams, 
Reuben Coombs, 
Daniel Babcock, 



Alfred A. Bliss, 
Godfrey Wheelock, 
Robert Kirkpatrick, 
Joabert Sweet, 
Milton Ingraham, 
Daniel Claflin, Jr. 
S. N. Carpenter, 
Comfort Claflin, 
James S. Day, 
Joseph Carpenter, 
Silas Rhodes, 
Ezra French, 
Damon White, 
Henry Knowles, 
Daniel Barney, 
Vernal Stanley, 
David Jillson, 
Nathaniel Brown, 
Walcott Peck, 
Samuel Phillips, 
Jabez Newell, 
Samuel Tyler, 



S. L. Morse, 
David B. Wellman, 
James H. Horton, 
George A. Allen, 
Carlos B. Morse, 
B. B. Chandler, 
Jonathan Peck, 
Sumner E. Capron, 
Daniel Claflin, 
Seba Carpenter, 
Zenas B. Carpenter, 
Oliver Stanley, 
Preston W. George, 
Samuel Newell, 
Lem'l Fuller, 
Benjamin Mason, 
Arthur Mason, 
Wm. Guild, 
Carlos Barrows, 
George Draper, 
Horatio N. Babcock. 



The subscriber would remonstrate against the adoption of the pro- 
posed line, not only so far as it separates Rhode Island and Attle- 
borough, but, more especially, against the part on Providence river, 
against the town of Seekonk, and also that part through Fall River 
as he believes valuable territory, and important rights, justly belong- 
ing to Massachusetts, will be surrendered thereby. 



ABIJAH M. IDE. 



18 



138 



BOUNDARY LINE. 



[April, 



The annexed remonstrance against the boundary line, as agreed 
upon by the majority of the present commissioners, only relates so far 
to said line as it concerns this town ; but there were many, who 
wished to remonstrate against the whole line, from Burnt Swamp 
Corner to the ocean, and wished so to express themselves. But, it not 
then being convenient for them to do so, I have thought proper to make 
this explanation, and attach the same to it. And that, in Pawtucket, 
Seekonk, and Fall River, much more important rights and privileges, 
properly belonging to the Commonwealth, will be ceded to Rhode 
Island by the adoption of the proposed line, than from our own town. 
From the report of the surveyor, Mr. Borden, it appears that there is 
hardly a monument erected, that is placed upon the true line. 

JOSEPH W. CAPRON. 

Attleborough, March 30, 1848. 



To the Honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives in 
General Court assembled: 

The undersigned, inhabitants of the town of Westport, in the county 
of Bristol and Commonwealth of Massachnsetts, respectfully pray, that 
no part of the territory, within the rightful boundaries of this Com- 
monwealth, may be alienated therefrom to the state of Rhode Island, by 
the voluntary act of the legislature of Massachusetts ; and they do 
especially protest against allowing the erection of monuments upon 
any proposed line, in anticipation of the decision of the legislature, to 
prejudice the just rights of this town, the Commonwealth, or the citi- 
zens thereof; and as in duty bound will ever protest and pray. 



Philip T. Chace, 
N. W. Winchester, 
Howard P. Tripp, 
Chas. F. Devol, 
Stephen B. Cornell, 
Nathaniel Kirby, 
Daniel Tripp, 
George M. Mosher, 
Pardon Petty, 
Otis Tripp, 
Joshua Potter, 



Wm. P. Rowland, 
Benjamin Sowle, Jr. 
William Smith, 
John Lawton, 
George D. Crapo, 
George R. Pearce, 
John Cornell, 
Elery Taber, 
James Cornell, 
John G. Tripp, 
John M. Tripp, 



Stephen R. Howland, 
Job Crosmon, 
Chas. H. Hathaway, 
Caleb Reed, 
George W. Sowle, 
John Allen, 
Wm. G. Allen, 
David R. Tripp, 
John Macomber, 
Edward S. Gifford, 
Ruben Wait, 



1848.] 



SENATE— No. 128. 



139 



Alexander B. Gifford, 
Lemuel Brownell, 
Epiiraim Thomson, 
George C. Brownell, 
Sanford Brightman, 
Chas. L. Gifford, 
Benj. R. GifFord, 
John T. Petty, 
Levi Gifford, 
Moses Macomber, 
Jeremiah T. Thomson, 
Jonathan Record, 
Benjamin Gifford, 
Salisbury Brown, 
Williard Reed, 
Jonathan P. Sowle, 
William Taber, 
James W. Manchester, 
Allen Tripp, 
John Macomber, 
James H. Sherman, 
Humphrey B. Allen, 
Ezra P. Brownell, 
Giles E. Brownell, 
Jirah Brownell, 
Edmund Tripp, Jr. 
Fredrick P. Potter, 
Adan Bennitt, 
William Potter, 
Edward B. Hazard, 
Jacob Allen, 
Tho's W. Wood, 
Pardon Petty, 2d, 
Russell Gifford, 
Adrian Davis, 
John Potter, 



Nathan W. Wood, 
Benjamin T. Shaw, 
Daniel Tripp, 
Geo. R. Brownell, 
Frederick Brownell, 
Perry Davis, 
Russell Gifford, 
Gamaliel Church, 
Stephen Howland, 
Henry B. Gifford, 
C. A. Church, 
Chas. B. Haydon, 
George A. Brownell, 
Job Cornell, 
Weston Gifford, 
David M. Brownell, 
Oliver Brower, 
William Slade, 
Daniel Allen, 
Peleg Dennis, 
Wm. A. Davis, 
Richard Macomber, 
Stephen Tripp, 
Preserved Little, 
Gideon R. Chace, 
Frederick W. Brownell, 
Abraham Macomber, 
Jeremiah D. Tripp, 
John Sisson, 
Gideon D. Gifford, 
Geo. W. Packard, 
Tho's E. Tripp, 
Isaac Gifford, 
Robert Mosher, 
Elery Macomber, 
Jonathan Devol, 



Jeremiah Devol, 
Elisha Francis, 
Alex. H. Cory, 
Zoeth Howland, 
Caleb T. Sanford, 
Elijah Robinson, 
Abraham Dyer, 
Job Davis, 
Pardon Davis, 
Humphrey A. Giffrey, 
Edwin L. Mayhew, 
John Howland, 
Abner Kirby, 
Russell Gifford, 
Edmond G. Sowle, 
Samuel Brightman, 
Simeon Macomber, Jr. 
Anthony A. Gifford, 
Abraham C. White, 
Frederick Brownell, 
James H. Handy, 
Wm. W. Handy, 
Silas Kirby, 
Stephen K. Howland, 
David S. Howland, 
Joseph Howland, 
Humphrey Hitt, 
John W. Howland, 
George F. S. White, 
Perry Davis, 
Jonathan Davis, 
Isaac A. Anthony, 
James Reed, 
Nathan Wood, 
Benj. B. Sisson, 



To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, in Gen- 
eral Court assembled: 



The undersigned, inhabitants of the town of Swanzey, in the county 
of Bristol, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, respectfully pray, — 



140 



BOUNDARY LINE. 



[April, '48.J 



That no part of the territory within the rightful boundaries of this 
Commonwealth may be alienated therefrom, to the state of Rhode 
Island, by the voluntary act of the legislature of Massachusetts ; and 
they do especially protest against allowing the erection of monuments 
upon any proposed line, in anticipation of the decision of the legisla- 
ture, to prejudice the just rights of this town, the Commonwealth, or 
the citizens thereof; and as in duty bound will ever protest and pray. 



Mason Barney, 
Joseph Watson, 
James Barney, 
Asa Whitaker, 
J. B. Watson, 
Rodman S. Barney, 
Eben'r Daggett, 
James M. Barney, 
George B. Allen, 
G. R. Lawless, 
Josephus Burney, 
Benj. P. Norton, 
Wm. Watson, 
Charles S. Barry, 
Martin Grant, 
R. Chace, 



Jos. Thurber, 
Dexter Allen, 
John Allen, Jr. 
Edwin H. Peck, 
John Thurber, 3d, 
John Mason, 
David Hunter, 
William Ormesbee, 
Patrick Collins, 
Charles S. Barney, 
Job Gardner, Jr. 
Samuel Humphrey, 
Cyrus M. Wheaton, 
Williams Lake, 
Oliver C. Barney, 
Jona. Barney, 



L G. Luther, 
William Mason, 
Samuel Bosworth, 
Otis Ormsbee, 
Daniel Handy, 
Daniel Ormsbee, 
Wm. Feltt, 
Ebenezer Dogget, 
Jink T. Barry, 
Mason Barney, Jr. 
William Allin, 
William Ormsbee, 
James M. Barney, 
Rodney Barnes, 
Anson Barnes. 



ERRATA 



1st page 

5th " 

7th " 

12th " 

16lh " 

22nd " 

41st " 



43rd 
63rd 



66lh 



omit the words " and others," after Beriah Brown. 

for " 1840," read " 1640." 

" " Swanzey," read " Barrington." ^ 

" " William Shem," read " William Skem." 

" " its commissioners," read " the commissioners." 

" " Pokouet country," read " Mount Hope country." 

" " from the bay opposite Setehawset, (Seaconet Point,") read " from the 

bay at Seaconet Point, opposite Setehawset ;" and, for " proceeded," 

read " proceed." 
" " with two large rocks," read "between two large rocks." 
" " by Massachusetts," read " in Massachusetts ;" and, for " already," read 

"always." 
" " reputed line," read "jurisdictional line." * 



